{"id":92249,"date":"2020-01-24T11:23:29","date_gmt":"2020-01-24T17:23:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=92249"},"modified":"2020-01-24T11:23:29","modified_gmt":"2020-01-24T17:23:29","slug":"impact-wrestling-hits-misses-1-21-tessa-blanchards-promo-as-new-impact-champion-moose-vs-taurus-vs-rhino-joey-ryan-vs-maximo-valkyrie-austin-vs-tessa-miguel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/01\/24\/impact-wrestling-hits-misses-1-21-tessa-blanchards-promo-as-new-impact-champion-moose-vs-taurus-vs-rhino-joey-ryan-vs-maximo-valkyrie-austin-vs-tessa-miguel\/","title":{"rendered":"IMPACT WRESTLING HITS &#038; MISSES 1\/21: Tessa Blanchard&#8217;s promo as new Impact Champion, Moose vs. Taurus vs. Rhino, Joey Ryan vs. Maximo, Valkyrie &#038; Austin vs. Tessa &#038; Miguel"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-1478103195\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p><strong>\u2022Overall \u2013 HIT:<\/strong> This show, coming to us from Mexico City, Mexico, set up a few new programs and heated up some existing ones. I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m saying that I like what they are doing with the Desi Hit Squad, specifically Mahabali Shera, who seems is being set up to step out in front of that group for something bigger. Having another viable threat on the roster is a welcome addition. The inclusion of Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide talent on Impact\u2019s Mexico tapings are usually a nice change of pace for the promotion. No oVe presence today was also nice, giving their feud with Tessa Blanchard time to breathe.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Tessa Blanchard in-ring promo \u2013 HIT:<\/strong> The show opens with Tessa Blanchard establishing herself as the champion to the crowd and calling out Sami Callihan, hoping to put him behind her once and for all. Instead of Sami, Taya Valkyrie shows up and accuses Tessa of dodging her and the entire Knockout\u2019s division. Ace Austin then comes out further demeaning Tessa until she has had enough and attacks him. A brawl breaks out and Tessa is overwhelmed until Trey Miguel makes the save. This set up the main event. Good stuff here, Tessa and Taya face to face, both having been pushed hard, come across as the top stars of Impact Wrestling. Adding in Ace Austin into the mix helps elevate his standing. It is an effective segment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Willie Mack interview \u2013 HIT:<\/strong> Jimmy Jacobs interviewed Willie Mack earlier in the day, going over his recent bout with self-doubt with Jimmy providing positive reinforcement. As it stands, I hope this puts an end to the \u201cself-doubt\u201d storyline if Willie is going off to another feud while his tag team partner, Rich Swann, recovers. If he goes into another feud and they continue pushing that story, it might end up defining and diminishing Willie Mack for the future. That future might include Johnny Swinger as he showed up to offer to tag with Willie, an offer Willie wisely rebuffed\u2026 for the time being.<\/p>\n<p>Madison Rayne and Keira Hogan come to collect on Taya \u2013 HIT: Good character work from all the ladies involved in this backstage skit, all three coming across, unlikeable, self-absorbed, and irritating. All good traits for a heel. Madison Rayne and Kiera Hogan come to collect on the title shots Taya gave them in exchange for helping her out a while back. Taya invited Rayne and Hogan to fight each other next week to determine who gets first crack at her championship. Later, Jordynne Grace, who has a pinfall victory over Taya from their Bash at the Brewery 2 encounter, puts herself into the match since she too is owed a title shot.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Moose vs. Taurus vs. Rhino \u2013 HIT:<\/strong> Booker 1, \u201cHey, did you know we got three animal gimmicks in the back?\u201d Booker 2, \u201cGreat! Make \u2018em fight.\u201d And thus, this match came to be. This is a fun match with good in-ring storytelling. As soon as the match starts, Moose immediately takes a powder, but the crowd was having none of that. I won\u2019t repeat some of the chants they levied at him here. Eventually Taurus and Rhino have enough of Moose and hunt him down, teaming up momentarily. Eventually Rhino Gores Moose, then Taurus headbutts Rhino and steals the pin on Moose.<\/p>\n<p>***WARNING*** Joey Ryan sighting ***WARNING***<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Joey Ryan vs. M\u00e1ximo \u2013 (Unbelievably a) MISS:<\/strong> I had high hopes for this match when I saw Joey Ryan was going up against crowd-favorite ex\u00f3tico, M\u00e1ximo, especially since before the match, Joey narrowly escaped a second encounter with wrestler\u2019s court (presided by a sombrero wearing, Spanish speaking, Tommy Dreamer). Disappointingly, it\u2019s a rote, paint by numbers, bare bone\u2026 (uh huh), scripted, Joey Ryan match. Touched it, penis flip, trunk\u2019s lollipop, sweet tooth music, pin. Joey wins. What a wasted opportunity to do something fun. Afterward, in a backstage interview with RVD (and Katie Forbes), RVD went hard on (yup) the match. Are we heading towards an RVD and Joey Ryan program?<\/p>\n<p>*** END OF WARNING ***<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2744827663\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><strong>\u2022Michael Elgin and Eddie Edwards promos \u2013 HIT:<\/strong> Michael Elgin complains about Eddie Edwards tapping out and the ref not calling it during their match at the Hard to Kill PPV. He claims that the Call Your Shot trophy is rightfully his and that he is coming for Eddie. Later Eddie says he is done with Elgin and that he is ready to call his shot, but Elgin shows up to confront him. A scuffle ensues and they are forced apart. This leads to a best-of-five challenge between the two being booked. They have had some good matches together so it should be fun.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Jessicka Havok vs. Rosemary \u2013 MISS:<\/strong> The match itself was fine, mainly consisting of Jessicka Havok preventing Rosemary for getting at Suzie and Father James Mitchell. Unfortunately, all suspension of disbelief required to buy into the supernatural aspects of the story, was shattered by the commentary team talking about Su Yung\u2019s murder and subsequent resurrection as if it was an everyday occurrence. During the course of the match, they went form taking about Su Yung and Suzie as them being two different individuals, then same individual, then then two, then the same. After Havok beats Rosemary with a tombstone piledriver, Father Mitchell (who was blinded by Rosemary\u2019s mist earlier) notices that Suzie had wandered off. Judging that this was the same building where Su Yung was murdered by Havok, is Suzie about to regain her memories? What will happen if\/when she does?<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022The Rascalz skit \u2013 MISS:<\/strong> Still not a fan of these 70\u2019s show skits. Dez and Wentz good naturedly tease Trey for tagging with Tessa in the main event. Wentz pulls out some weed to smoke and Trey leaves to prepare for the match. Unbeknownst to Wentz, it wasn\u2019t marijuana, instead it was peyote. The two go on a trip and run away in a panic once two clowns (Pagano and Murder Clown) show up.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Rohit Raju vs. Willie Mack \u2013 HIT:<\/strong> In the back, Gama Singh asks where Raj Singh was, and it turns out the Mahabali Shera sent him on a spiritual journey. Gama is unhappy he wasn\u2019t consulted but Shera stood his ground stating that he doesn\u2019t need to seek anyone\u2019s permission. I like this, while I don\u2019t think this is going to lead to a break-up, it is, instead, the first step of establishing Shera as the alpha of the group instead of being a stooge for Gama. After Willie wins with a stunner, he gets jumped by Shera. Swinger comes in to make the save but is also taken out. While I don\u2019t think I\u2019m ready for a babyface Swinger (and I think this eventually ends with Mack vs. Swinger) I like that all these men are involve in a forward moving program.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Taya Valkyrie &amp; Ace Austin vs. Tessa Blanchard &amp; Trey Miguel \u2013 HIT:<\/strong> As Tessa makes her way into the ring, we get the only hint of Sami Callihan and OVE (presumably) as the television feed is momentarily hacked and an image flashes on the screen. What follows is a good, believable, intergender match. Good character work from all the wrestlers involved with Taya being obnoxious and Ace being creepy, and the crowd HATED John E. Bravo. I am surprised that Trey didn\u2019t pin Ace to earn another title shot if they are planning to keep their feud alive. Instead Ace hits Trey with The Fold for the win.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>CATCH UP:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/01\/17\/impact-wrestling-hits-misses-1-14-tessa-blanchards-celebration-interview-willie-mack-responds-to-north-loss-joey-ryan-vs-johnny-swinger-rvd-celebrates-shamrock-reflects-hard-to-kill-ppv-fal\/\">IMPACT WRESTLING HITS &amp; MISSES 1\/14: Tessa Blanchard\u2019s celebration interview, Willie Mack responds to North loss, Joey Ryan vs. Johnny Swinger, RVD celebrates, Shamrock reflects, Hard to Kill PPV fallout<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-3429851308\"><div id=\"pwtor-3952555556\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>\u2022Overall \u2013 HIT: This show, coming to us from Mexico City, Mexico, set up a few new programs and heated up some existing ones. I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m saying that I like what they are <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/01\/24\/impact-wrestling-hits-misses-1-21-tessa-blanchards-promo-as-new-impact-champion-moose-vs-taurus-vs-rhino-joey-ryan-vs-maximo-valkyrie-austin-vs-tessa-miguel\/\" title=\"IMPACT WRESTLING HITS &#038; MISSES 1\/21: Tessa Blanchard&#8217;s promo as new Impact Champion, Moose vs. Taurus vs. Rhino, Joey Ryan vs. Maximo, Valkyrie &#038; Austin vs. Tessa &#038; Miguel\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":92250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,28,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-specialists_hitsandmisses","category-specialists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/01\/Screen-Shot-2020-01-24-at-11.21.45-AM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92249"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92251,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92249\/revisions\/92251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}