REVIEW: Impact Wrestling UK Invasion Tour, Night Three
Credit: Impact Wrestling
Impact Wrestling UK Invasion Tour
HMV Empire, Coventry
Saturday, October 28, 2023
Reviewer: David South (@DavidSouth1980)
The third night of Impact Wrestling’s first UK tour in many a year, saw them arrive in Coventry for the first of two shows at the traditional home of WrestleCarnival.
There were a few more here tonight though, as what is the Carnival’s merchandise area was entirely sacrificed for extra rows of seats and a crowd of around 500 took up all of them.
Tom Campbell was the ring announcer for the night, and his first duty was to tell us that unfortunately Alex Shelley wouldn’t be able to complete this evening due to injury.
Though Chris Sabin was prepared to defend the Motor City Machine Gun’s honour on his own, Frankie Kazarian had volunteered to compete in tonight’s opening contest, then return to team with Sabin in the main event.
Frankie Kazarian vs Leon Slater
Credit: Impact Wrestling
The opening exchanges between the veteran and the Youngest in Charge are fairly even, Kazarian is the bigger of the two though and a shoulder barge into a headlock combination worked for him.
Slater counters with the electric pace he has, sliding through the ropes to the floor, he whips Kazarians legs out from underneath him, before a rope assisted splash and then a handspring elbow gets him the first two count. He climbs to the top again but Frankie hits and standing dropkick and Slater takes an awkward and painful looking fall to the floor.
Frankie is in charge now, the slams Leon and then hits a springboard leg drop. Slater fights back with an Irish whip cutter and springboard splash of his own. Slater climbs to the top again, this time looking for that trademark 450, but sensing Kazarian isn’t done, he rolls through the landing and pops up.
Slater tries the handspring elbow again, but this time Frankie is ready. He converts it into the backstabber, then applies a Cross Chicken Wing leaving Slater with no choice but to tap out.
Scott D’Amore comes to the ring and the crowd senses what’s about to happen. He talks about being away from the UK for too long, and the imminent name change back to TNA. He says the company is built on the back of Veterans like Frankie Kazarian and Chris Sabin, but that they have to look to the future too and Leon Slater is clearly the future.
He offers Slater a TNA/Impact contract, which Slater signs in the ring to rapturous applause from the audience.
If you’ll indulge me a moment, I was genuinely quite emotional seeing this happen. I don’t know Leon at all, but I’ve seen him evolve from ring crew at the Hex Club in Sheffield, to a world-renowned talent in only about four years and (though I had nothing to do with any of it) I’m so proud.
Dani Luna and Deonna Purrazzo vs Emersyn Jayne and Jordynne Grace
Credit: Impact Wrestling
Luna and Jayne start this one for their respective teams, trading rollups before both deciding to give their Impact partners a go. They similarly go hold for hold for a while, until Grace’s power puts her on top.
She tags Jayne and they try to double team Dani Luna but she ducks through, holding both wrists and Jayne and Grace crash into each other. Luna hits a suplex and a Clothesline for a two count, and now the Virtuosa is in and it’s their turn to double team Jayne, with a clothesline/Gut Wrench suplex combination.
Luna and Purrazzo both do a great job keeping an increasingly frustrated Grace on the apron. Jayne and Purrazzo both hit clotheslines at the same time though and crawl to their partners, both making a tag.
Grace hits a spinebuster on Luna, then a powerbomb, and Purrazzo has to break up the subsequent pinfall. Jayne hits a rope assisted suplex on Purrazzo, and she rolls to the floor. Grace hits the Grace Driver on Luna and completes the victory.
Amir Jordan vs Rich Swann
“Dance off” calls the crowd before the match can even start, and we get one, as the two popular performers show what they can do. It ends though with Jordan hitting a crossbody and then a second off the top rope, after the handstand in the corner spot.
Swann attacks though are focused on Jordan’s back and despite the good-natured start, there are some pretty brutal kicks in there. Jordan hits a single leg codebreaker and then dives through the middle ropes after Swann.
Back in the ring, Jordan lands a swanton bomb for a very close 2 count. It’s not to be for Jordan though, Swann responding with a swinging kick to the head that levels him and then a 450 splash from the second rope to clinch the win.
The pair shake hands and embrace after the match.
Brian Myers vs Grado
Credit: Impact Wrestling
Though I’ve seen Grado before, this was my first experience of the full “Like a Prayer” entrance and it was one of the highlights of the evening. Myers looks non-plussed by the whole spectacle though.
The last match began with a dance off, this one begins with a ‘cartwheel off’ with Myers unable to see why the crowd don’t appreciate his athleticism as much as they do Grado’s.
He also doesn’t appreciate Grado’s attempt to trip him with a classic schoolboy and rollup. Myers tries, perhaps ambitiously to lift Grado with a belly to black suplex but can’t lift him.
Instead, he takes him to the floor, where they brawl until Myers tries to chop him, but finds only the ring post. Myers does get control though and spends a long time working Grado over, taking out his frustrations until, out of nowhere, Grado hits a stunner for the long two count.
Grado calls for the chokeslam to finish it, but Myers cuts him off. Grado does then hit the chokeslam and again it’s a near fall. Grado heads to the corner and starts to ‘tune up the band’. He then says, “I’m sorry, I love you” and aims his superkick.
Unfortunately, Myers has had plenty of time to see it coming and catches him, he spins him around and bounces of the ropes, then hits a huge lariat to win the match.
Moose vs Rhino
Credit: Impact Wrestling
Surprisingly, the crowd is a split down the middle for this big man hoss match, which starts with both men running into the other, trying (and failing) to move the other.
Rhino’s mounted ten punch in the corner is the first real offense of the match, he follows that up with banging Moose’s head into the turnbuckle ten times, then on the floor into the apron for, you guessed it, ten times. Moose is furious now and starts to choke Rhino in the ropes over and over.
Rhino hip tosses Moose to the middle of the ring and backs to the corner, looking for the Gore. Moose moves though and lands more punches and a big dropkick off the ropes for a two count.
The pair exchange right hands, Moose then points something out to the ref and whilst his back is turned, hits Rhino with a lowblow. Then he retreats to a corner and hits his big spear for the victory.
Eddie Edwards vs Joe Hendry
Credit: Impact Wrestling
Edwards starts this match with a headlock and controls Hendry’s movements, sliding him into a pinfall a couple of times. Hendry manages to power out of it though and then he casually sidesteps a dropkick.
Hendry then hits a long delayed vertical suplex, but Edwards kicks out at one. Edwards hits an atomic drop, and a back elbow and then returns to the headlock.
Joe Hendry catches an Edwards crossbody and then hurls him up over his head and to the mat. Edwards hits a blue thunder bomb and calls for he knee strike, but Hendry sees it coming and steps into a clothesline instead.
They trade blows again, until Edwards hits another powerbomb, takes a few steps back and earns the win with the Boston Knee Party.
Giselle Shaw vs Trinity - Impact Knockouts Championship
Credit: Impact Wrestling
Despite her years of history over here, Shaw is not popular tonight. She attacks first, hitting Trinity in the corner and then ‘stinkfacing’ her. Shaw catches an attempted body scissors and then slams her to the mat again, then hits a running elbow for the bouts first near fall.
They trade kicks to the head, until Trinity hits a bulldog off the ropes for her first near fall. Shaw cuts off Trinity’s offence, hits a backbreaker and then a bulldog of her own, but Trinity responds with the ‘rear view’ butt bump then tries for the Starstruck submission hold, but can’t quite apply it with enough force.
Gisele fights back with a rope assisted DDT, but a sit out bomb from Trinity is enough to retain the title but the scowl on Shaw’s face suggests that this isn’t over.
Eric Young & Josh Alexander vs Chris Sabin & Frankie Kazarian vs Subculture (Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews)
Main event time. It starts with Kazarian and Josh Alexander in the ring and there are tags within the teams to try and get the upper hand, but it’s not until Mark Andrews gets in that Subculture gain a real footing by utilising double team moves, particularly isolating Chris Sabin and working him over.
Once recovered, and seeing it pay dividends for the Welsh boys, the other teams try double team moves. Young and Alexander both apply sharpshooters to Sabin and Kazarian, Webster and Mandrews see their opportunity and apply headlocks to the standing opponennts, only for Young and Alexander to bangs them into each other.
Everybody in the match then gets a German suplex from the Walking Weapon, very nearly including Young, but Alexander stops himself in time. Still with both of them in the ring, Subculture hit a running knee and Frankensteiner combination, but the pin is broken up.
Sabin uses the top rope to flick his partner into the ring, and Kazarian hits a cutter on Mark Andrews, Sabin then rolls over the top, pulling up his face and leaving him exposed to Kazarian’s dropkick – it’s not enough to claim victory though.
Indeed, victory would go to Young and Alexander, who pushed Sabin and Kaz to the floor and then hit simultaneous piledrivers on Subculture to win the match.
After the match, both Frankie Kazarian and Josh Alexander take time to put over Subculture and the rest of the Impact locker room, and to say that they hoped that a TNA tour, would be back in the UK very soon.
Whilst not a great night results wise for the UK guys involved with this Impact tour, it was fantastic to see so many of them competing with Wrestlers who are known internationally and are (or have been) competitive at the highest levels.
With any luck Slater (and Harley Hudson, who won the ‘Gutcheck’ competition ahead of Sundays show) are just the start of another round of performers ready to go and break America.