O2 Academy
Glasgow, Scotland
Broadcasted November 2nd, 2023
In a special edition of Impact Wrestling, we get to check out the show from Glasgow, Scotland! There was no edition of Before The Impact this week with Josh Matthews and Gia Miller.
Glasgow Cup Match
Frankie Kazarian vs. Joe Hendry
Background:
This match was apart of a 4 Man Tournament on this night to battle for the Glasgow Cup. Frankie defeated Leon Slater and Joe Hendry defeated Rich Swann to make it to the Finals, in matches that did not make this episode of Impact Wrestling. Joe Hendry is the hometown boy here, and the fans appear to truly believe in Joe Hendry!
The Match:
It will be pretty big for Joe to defeat Kaz and Rich Swann in one evening to win this. Considering Rich is a former Impact World Champion and Kaz is an Impact and TNA Legend. There was a bit of chain wrestling to begin this one. Joe Hendry is the hometown hero here, so I couldn’t see him losing this match for the Glasgow Cup to another babyface.
Kaz is really firing on all cylinders at the moment! He’s in top shape, he’s still quick, still in whatever may be left of his prime. Kaz had some heat, he went for the chicken wing, and Hendry reversed it – starting his comeback, but he got cut off by Kaz. They were given decent time for this one! A GREAT back and forth pinning sequence, which ends when Joe Hendry manages to pin Kaz.
Aftermath:
This was designed for Joe to get a pop in Scotland, and seeing him defeat Kazarian was interesting as it feels like it moves Joe Hendry up the ranks a little bit in Impact Wrestling.
Winner: Glasgow Cup Winner, Joe Hendry in 13:02.
Moose/Myers/Deonna cut a promo on facing Sub Culture, and Deonna mentions that she’s facing Trinity at Turning Point tomorrow, where if she doesn’t win, she will not recieve another shot at Trinity. I have a feeling that match is Deonna’s last match in Impact under her current contract, unless she’s still there till the end of the year.
Joe Hendry cuts a promo to talk about his success so far in Impact Wrestling, and now winning the Glasgow Cup, and that he’s facing Simon Miller next and Simon should believe in Joe Hendry.
Six Man Tag Team Match
Deonna Purrazzo & The Most Professional Wrestling Gods (Brian Myers & Moose) vs. Subculture (Dani Luna, Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews)
Background:
Zilch, Nada, Zip. I would say this is simply to get Sub Culture on the show as they are former Impact Tag Team Champions, they’re from the UK, and I think their run with Impact is already technically over.
The Match:
Myers stalls a lot to begin with and I had to laugh over him popping the double biceps for the audience. Dani Luna gets a bit of a pop from the audience, dominates Deonna Purrazzo and then Moose gets in all cocky and overpowers Dani in a lockup. Then, he does it to Webster.
Mark Andrews gets in and chops Moose and Moose is not happy about it. Andrews cops a heat and there’s a tremendous “Myers is a wanker” chant. I wonder where Deonna Purrazzo plans to go next? I imagine it might be cool if she went to STARDOM for 6 months.
Dani and Deonna both copped the hot tag, Moose booted Luna out of her shoes which was pretty funny considering how wrong it was of him to do. Great triple powerbomb from Sub Culture on Moose out of the corner! Moose is still at the top of his game, but is it too late for him and WWE now? There’s a hot flurry toward the end of the match with all 6 guys till Moose spears the hell out of one of the Sub Culture guys for the win.
Aftermath:
The Most Professional Wrestling Gods definitely needed this win to climb up the Tag Team ranks in Impact.
Winner/s: Moose, Bryan Myers & Deonna Purrazzo in 14:42.
Singles Match
Grado vs. Trey Miguel
Background:
Just a chance to get the popular former Impact Wrestler and UK TV star, Grado on the show! Grado previously wrestled for Impact Wrestling from 2015 till 2018, and definitely made a name for himself. He is also an actor who plays ‘Alan’ in a popular Scottish sitcom, Two Doors Down.
The Match:
Grado shows Trey up with a bit of ha-ha to start the match. Grado does has some funny shenanigans to play mind games with his opponent, which was super welcome. Grado hilariously matched Trey balancing upside down on the turnbuckles, whilst Trey did it on the top rope, Grado did it on the 2nd. I don’t mind comedy wrestling when it’s done cleverly like this. He’s still trying to compete.
Grado copped a superkick and sold it tremendously, like a heat shot on Call of Duty. I actually think Grado Vs Santino would be a fun match to watch, I hadn’t seen much of Grado prior to this but hes good fun! Grado hit a cool DVD, got a near fall with a small package, and nails Trey with a boot to win!
Aftermath:
Grado gets a win for the pop, I am sure he loses his match on the Countdown tomorrow.
Winner: Grado in 8:43.
Non Title Match
Trinity vs. Emersyn Jayne
Background:
Another local Scottish Pro Wrestler on the show here, Emersyn Jayne. This must be a pretty big match for her, I for one have never seen her wrestle before, but she looked pretty cool!
The Match:
Trinity won’t be losing this one. In fact I don’t think she’s been pinned since coming to Impact. I’ve been saying it for ages, she needs a formiddable opponent to come after her, perhaps somebody like Megan Bayne from Stardom, or Kamille from NWA.
Trinity appears to have finally found her timing as she looked a lot more crisp out there. Trinity hit an awesome Rear View! Emersyn’s biggest move was a cool kind of Falcon Arrow that she hit on Trinity, I actually though Emersyn’s selling was great here, she made Trinity look terrific. Trinity with an excellent heatseeker then a Bubba Bomb for the clean win.
Aftermath:
Nothing to possibly come from this. Just a match to get Trinity on the card in Glasgow, Scotland. Trinity defends the Impact Knockouts World Title tomorrow at Turning Point against Deonna Purrazzo. I would have done something here to get heat on Deonna before the PPV.
Winner: Trinity in 7:08.
Some cool footage of the roster visiting the UK aired next! It must certainly be a fun experience for them. Impact seem to honestly be such a tight team, they really work together to make the company work. It’s good to see there’s a pro wrestling company around that isn’t filled with BS and drama.
Trinity cuts a fairly cookie cutter promo on Deonna before we get to our Main Event.
Tag Team Match
Eric Young & Josh Alexander vs. The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin)
Background:
Josh and Alex battled at Bound For Glory in the Main Event, where Alex finally got that big win over Josh to solidify his title reign and prove the naysayers wrong that he’s the real Impact World Champion.
The Match:
I think it’s kind of clear tomorrow’s Turning Point PPV is a show of mainly cold matches, they are transitioning I suppose before the big change at Hard to Kill in January. Some pretty tight back and forth between the two teams, Eric and Josh seem to have formed a new Team Canada in spirit.
A good heat took place on Shelley, Josh and Alex certainly have their work together down pat. Heat continues on Josh Alexander, as this match has been given a lot of time! This was a tremendous Main Event, Eric hit the big elbow on Sabin but forgot to tag in, WELL DONE IMPACT for caring about Tags! Sabin pins Eric with the Cradle Shock.
Aftermath:
Josh and Eric continue to team at Turning Point, who knows if this is an idea to keep Josh away from the Main Event scene for a while.
Winner/s: Motor City Machine Guns in 20:24.
Final Thoughts:
Not a bad show! It was wrestling heavy but that is to be expected when they are in Scotland and had a PPV the next day. I would have at least attempted to get some more heat on the matches for the PPV tomorrow to try get some last minute PPV buys.
Turning Point should still be interesting, I just hope it doesn’t end up feeling like a ‘filler’ PPV. This Impact roster is great, I just wonder what kind of kick in the pants they would get if Will Ospreay, CM Punk and Dolph Ziggler joined the company. That would make things VERY interesting!
