Impact Wrestling "Hard to Kill" 2023 - 1/13/23

[DreamBroken]

Impact Wrestling "Hard to Kill" - January 13, 2023
Atlanta, GA

KNOCKOUTS TITLE vs. CAREER MATCH / THE LAST RODEO
Jordynne Grace(c) vs. Mickie James

IMPACT WORLDS HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP FULL METAL MAYHEM MATCH
Josh Alexander(c) vs. Bully Ray

IMPACT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP ELIMINATION MATCH
The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin)(c) vs. The Major Players (Brian Myers & Matt Cardona) vs. Bullet Club (Ace Austin & Chris Bey) vs. Heath & Rhino

IMPACT X DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Trey Miguel(c) vs. Black Taurus

IMPACT DIGITAL MEDIA CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Joe Hendry(c) vs. Moose

FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE IN ATLANTA
Steve Maclin vs. Rich Swann

KNOCKOUTS #1 CONTENDERSHIP MATCH
Deonna Purrazzo vs. Masha Slamovich vs. Taylor Wilde vs. Killer Kelly

Eddie Edwards vs. Jonathan Gresham

-The Reveal of who will take Scott D'Amore's place in his absence due to injury.

-Raven appears

COUNTDOWN to Hard to Kill PRESHOW:

Death Dollz (Rosemary, Taya Valkyrie, & JesSICKa) vs. Tasha Steelz, Savannah Evans, & Gisele Shaw (w/ Jai Vidal)

Speedball Mike Bailey vs. Angels vs. Bhupinder Gujjar vs. "Action" Mike Jackson vs. Kushida vs. Yuya Uemura

--

 

I'll be attending a local show so I'll be catching the replay late, but looks like a pretty great card. Intrigued by the top two matches and most of all looking forward to the knockouts 4 way with some of my absolute favorite talents involved.

[DEAN]

The Countdown has just started!  MIKE JACKSON!

 

[DreamBroken]

Pretty great show overall!

Josh/Bully had some wild bumps, pretty great chaos. 4 way tag was pretty fun.  Welcome home Frankie Kazarian!

Hendry/Moose was great. Totally bought the first finish while being shocked that Hendry was gonna have such a disappointing short run but liking the reboot/boost it would give Moose and forgetting Moose's ties to Atlanta heading in. Santino was a nice unexpected surprise twist. I was thinking Raven would somehow replace D'Amore. I believe in Joe Hendry!

4 way was awesome as expected. I like Masha's newer theme. So glad Killer Kelly got to be back in the mix as a last minute add, actually thought she could win since she would be the freshest challenger. 

Also awesome was Maclin/Swann. Loved them starting in the back and outside before ending up ringside. Both guys looked great here and champion level. Maclin's liger bomb on the outside was killer. Maclin is the man.

Eddie/Gresham was excellent. Loved the fast pace towards the end, I was buying every near fall. Great stuff. Nice Friday the 13th return for PCO.

Main event was fittingly epic. I loved the little moment with Raven and Mickie in the back, call back to The Gathering. I figured Mickie had to win once Masha won and all other champs were retaining, but I was still on the edge of my seat for it with the near falls and it was gonna be tough to buy Jordynne going down to anything less than what she went through in the Masha matches. Speaking of which, I would hope Mickie wouldn't win it just to lose it right away now after all this but at the same time I can't see Masha losing a third straight title shot so the booking is all crazy here. Looking forward to the follow up as it felt like a ton of stuff happened on this show. 

Only thing missing was some Tasha Steelz! Apparently the scheduled trios match happened but mysteriously did not air for some reason, hope it pops up on Impact.

 

Full results Impact Hard to Kill 2023

Spoiler

COUNTDOWN to Hard to Kill PRESHOW

*Kushida def. Angels, "Action" Mike Jackson, Delirious, Speedball Mike Bailey, & Yuya Uemura (7:30) via flying cross armbreaker submission on Angels after Kenny King interfered to take out Speedball

*Trey Miguel(c) def. Black Taurus (w/ Crazzy Steve) (10:19) with the Lightning Spiral after using spray paint to the eyes behind the ref's back to retain the X Division Championship.

Impact Wrestling "Hard to Kill"  - January 13, 2023 from Atlanta, GA

*10 Bell Salute to Don West opened the show

*Josh Alexander(c) def. Bully Ray (17:03) to RETAIN the Impact Worlds Heavyweight Championship in Full Metal Mayhem via ankle lock submission after putting Bully through a table with a splash off a ladder. Included interference from Jason Hotch & John Skyler, Tommy Dreamer, and Josh's wife Jade.

*The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin)(c) def. Heath & Rhino, The Major Players (Brian Myers & Curt Hawkins), and Bullet Club (Ace Austin & Chris Bey) (13:14) to RETAIN the Impact Tag Team Championships.
-Cardona pinned Rhino with a rollup 2 minutes in.
-Bey pinned Myers after Ace used The Fold
-Sabin pinned Bey after the Dirt Bomb

*Frankie Kazarian came to the ring and announced that he has walked away from where he was and he has signed a long term contract with Impact Wrestling. 

*Joe Hendry(c) def. Moose (11:57) with the Standing Ovation to RETAIN the Impact Digital Media Championship after Moose originally won using a low blow, but the match was restarted by the new Impact Director of Authority, Santino Marella, who said he did not like cheaters and restarted the match.

*Masha Slamovich def. Deonna Purrazzo, Taylor Wilde, & Killer Kelly (8:40) after the Snow Plow on Taylor ontop of Deonna and Kelly, to become #1 contender to the knockouts championship.

*Steve Maclin def. Rich Swann (11:47) after the K.I.A. on the walkway in the crowd in Falls Count Anywhere in Atlanta. Raven did guest commentary.

*Eddie Edwards def. Jonathan Gresham (18:56) after the Boston Knee Party. After the match, the lights went out and PCO returned from being buried alive in the desert by Eddie. PCO laid out Eddie with a chokeslam.

-Impact returns to PPV on April 16th in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The next Impact+ event will be No Surrender on February 24 in Las Vegas.

*Mickie James def. Jordynne Grace (19:24) after a Tornado DDT to WIN the knockouts championship and continue her career. After the match, Mickie celebrated in ring with her family and Tara to close the show.

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by DreamBroken