Impact Wrestling Recap (5/25): Scott Steiner Returns, #1 Contenders 3 Way, Mixed Tag Match And More

By Leon Milici

IMPACT WRESTLING
TAPED 4/23 AT 'THE IMPACT ZONE' IN ORLANDO,FLORIDA

Impact opens with a video recap of what took place last week on the show. From Low-Ki retaining his title in the return of the Ultimate X match, to the conclusion of last week's match between James Storm and EC3. Which saw Magnus interfere and Bruce Prichard run down to exact order. Prichard ended up booking a 3 way match between Carter, Storm and Magnus for tonight, with the winner getting a world title shot against the champion Bobby Lashley. The conclusion of Prichard's announcement saw EC3 react by spiking Bruce to the ground.

* Jeremy Borash and 'Da Pope' are on commentary at ringside. They intro the show while Bruce Prichard makes his way to the ring with Tyrus.

Bruce Prichard announces that he has hired Tyrus for security after what EC3 did to him last week. Prichard goes on to note that EC3's actions are currently under review by Impact management. Bruce then invites the Impact World Champion Bobby Lashley to the ring. Lashley addresses the audience and says that he is the most dominant wrestler in the history of the industry. He calls Storm, Carter and Magnus, a bunch of nobodies who are battling to get beaten by him eventually. EC3 is out next....

Carter mockingly tells Prichard that he is looking forward to reading Prichard's review of him. EC3 then turns his attention to Lashley. He gives him a spoiler alert, that he is going to win tonight and then go on to beat Lashley for the Impact Title at the Slammiversary pay-per-view in July. Magnus is out next. He addresses Lashley first and says that his credentials speak for himself, and that he and Lashley have never met in the ring. Magnus insults EC3 and calls him "EC Cheese" and then takes a direct a shot at Prichard. Magnus says that Prichard has begun the same reign of terror, that he inflicted on the company in the past. James Storm is out last and makes his way down the ramp with mic in hand. Lashley tries to cut him off in mid-speech and Storm insults Lashley by saying that he has a tiny head for a man of his size. The Cowboy then promises to come into the ring for a fight. Prichard tries to put a halt to the chaos and books tonight's main event as a No DQ match between Carter, Storm and Magnus. Prichard then warns the three participants, that they are not allowed to strike each other until their match later on and that if they do, they will be suspended. EC3 teases Storm to strike him as the show heads to it's first break.

During the break, Ethan Carter is interviewed backstage. He hypes the main event tonight and what he is going to do to Magnus and James Storm.

Borash and Pope reset the show at ringside and hype what's in store for Impact tonight. Borash says that Josh Mathews has promised to reveal who his tag team partner will be for their upcoming match at Slammiversary.

Kongo Kong & KM w/Laurel Van Ness & Sienna vs. Braxton Sutter & Mahabali Shera w/Allie

Borash notes on commentary that Impact will debut on TV in India two weeks from tonight..... Hard to see Shera nowadays and not think of the "Maharajah".......

Laurel and Sienna taunt Allie at ringside before the action begins. Sutter and Shera try to team up against Kongo but their attempts fail. Shera tries to slam Kong but is unable to. When KM gets in the ring, Mahabali turns the tables until Laurel gets on the apron to distract him. Shera gets isolated in the corner and Kongo is back in and starts to beat on him. Kongo and KM take turns beating on Shera and Kongo eventually slaps on a nerve hold. Moments later, Shera gets splashed by the big man, he's then supelexed and Kongo falls on him with a senton. The heels stay in charge, as the show heads to break.

After the break, Shera eventually rallies and tags in Braxton Sutter. Braxton gets momentum with a big power slam on KM. He and Shera then double team KM until Kongo gets involved. Sutter battle Kongo to the outside. Laurel gets on the apron and tries to kiss Shera. KM sneaks up from behind and knocks down Mahabali. Laurel and Sienna then start chasing Allie around the ring. Allie manages to escape and then get the better of the two women. Seconds later, Kongo headbutts Shera from the apron and KM rolls him up with a handful of tights for the pinfall victory.

Kongo Kong & KM defeat Braxton Sutter & Mahabali Shera

After the match, The men brawl up the ramp and to the backstage area. Laurel Van Ness and Sienna corner Allie inside the ring and they attack and double team Allie until Rosemary comes out. Her face is painted death mask style. Rosemary teases helping Sienna and Laurel but ends up aiding Allie by spewing green mist at Laurel and Sienna. She then hits the red wedding on Laurel and clotheslines Sienna. Rosemary gets a huge pop and chant from the crowd. Her and Allie stare each other down, as the show heads to break.

GFW TAG TEAM TITLE TOURNAMENT
SEMIFINAL MATCH
The Veterans Of War (Mayweather & Wilcox) vs Fallah Bahh & Mario Bokara

The winner of this match will go on to face LAX in the final for The GFW Tag Team Titles..... If LAX wins, They will become dual champs..... VOW dominates the early action with some power tandem offense. Mario Bokara being on the bad end of it. Mayweather executes a nice looking throw suplex on Mario for a near fall until Bahh breaks up the count. Fallah is eventually tagged in and he goes head to head with Mayweather. Bahh slams him down and hits a slow motion splash. Bokara is back in and he works over Mayweather. He and his partner Bahh start tagging in and out. Bahh drops a Yokozuna styled leg drop on Mayweather. Fallah then hits a succession of palm strikes. He then attempts to splash Mayweather in the corner but he misses. Wilcox is tagged in and Bokara joins him in the ring. Wilcox over powers him with an overhead suplex. Fallah is back in and gets thrown to the outside. Bokara is left to fend for himself and is finished off by VOW, with their tandem finisher entitled "Mother.Of.All.Bombs." and get the victory.

The Veterans Of War defeat Mario Bokara & Fallah Bahh to advance to the finals of the GFW Tag Team Title Tournament to face LAX

The show goes to break with a shot of Josh Mathews backstage, as he makes his way to ringside.

When Impact returns, Jeremy Borash and Da Pope reset the show at ringside. The tweeting sound comes over the sound system and Josh Mathews makes his way to the ring.

Josh Mathews promotes his Slammiversary tag match against Borash and Joseph Park. Mathews calls JB into the ring. Josh Mathews says that he apologizes for some of his actions of late. He says that he has made up with Shark Boy. He also followed Dave Penzer on Twitter after unfriending him initially. Josh then says that he called Mike Tenay to apologize to him for stealing his play by play job. Mathews even mentions Jim Ross. Josh then pretends to cry and says that he has been jealous of Borash all along. Josh then goes on to claim that he is the vice president of Impact Wrestling. Mathews offers to shake Borash's hand........ Joseph Park comes out and joins JB in ring. Park advises Borash to not accept Josh's apology. Joseph then revisits the history between Mathews and Borash. Mathews then snaps at Park and says that he should be the face of this company and that he should call every single major sporting event.

This leads to Park and Borash demanding to know who Josh's partner is. Park says they don't have to wait for Slammiversary, he will beat Josh now. Josh calls for a referee but before the match can begin the music interrupts and out comes 'Big Poppa Pump' Scott Steiner. Borash and Park sell shock on their faces as Steiner makes his way to the ring. Park and Borash attempt to retreat. They run into the crowd and Steiner goes after them. In the process, Scott Steiner ends up knocking down a "fan". Park ends up by the ringside area and Mathews low blows him from behind. Josh then calls Steiner into the ring while he gets on the mic and taunts Park and the crowd. Park is then taken into the ring and 'Big Poppa Pump' puts him in The Steiner Recliner. Mathews gloats about Steiner being his partner at Slammiversary. Borash then chased up the ramp by Steiner.

Josh Mathews is back as the play by play man at ringside. He instructs Keith Mitchell back in the truck to replay what just happened again..... A Moose vignette then airs where he talks about his career thus far and how The Grand Championship has made him a better wrestler.

McKenzie Mitchell is backstage. She asks Eli Drake about his recent actions against Moose. When Eli starts justifying what he did, Moose arrives and tries to attack Eli but is held back by officials. Drake then challenges Moose to a Grand Championship match next week. Moose accepts and then Eli strikes him. They both brawl briefly and then Chris Adonis shows up to attack Moose as well.

MIXED TAG TEAM MATCH
Davey Richards & Angelina Love vs. Eddie Edwards & Alisha

Mathews gets in a pretty good joke during the introductions by Dave Penzer. Josh says that they should get a different ring announcer, like maybe the guy who wrote a book and stooged off his colleagues... Funny...... Eddie and his wife waste no time and charge after Richards and Love immediately. After Eddie hits a caffeine dive on Richards. Love rakes Eddie's eyes from behind. Alisha ends up diving off the top rope and onto Angelina, as the show heads to break.....

Edwards and his wife stay in control after the break. Love helps turn the tables in her husband's favor by striking Eddie from behind. The crowd is pretty hot for all of this. Richards then takes out his former partner's knee and slaps on a figure four leg lock. Angelina assists her husband by giving him leverage when the referee isn't looking. Edwards reverses the figure four and the hold is broken. Richards beats down on Edwards and taunts the crowd. Love then runs around the ring and knocks Alisha off of the apron. Richards continues to taunt the crowd and heads to the top rope. He leaps off but Edwards moves out of the way. Eddie then connects with an overhead suplex on Richards. The wives are both tagged in and go at it catfight style. Alisha gets the better of Angelina but misses with a cross body off the top. Love tries to finish off Alisha with a scissors kick but Alisha counters with a roll up and pins her.

Eddie Edwards and Alisha defeat Davey Richards and Angelina Love

After the match, Richards and Love attack Edwards and his wife. Davey handcuffs Eddie to the bottom rope. He is then forced to watch as Alisha is put through a table with a powerbomb by Angelina Love.

A Rockstar Spud interview airs with him laying in bed. Spud says that he promised to get revenge on Swoggle this week on Impact but that UK doctors have advised him to rest up another week. As Spud continues his promo, His mother yells out at him. Spud tells his mom to keep Kayfabe and then promises to get revenge on Swoggle soon.

NO DISQUALIFICATION 3 WAY MATCH TO DETERMINE THE #1 CONTENDER FOR THE IMPACT WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Ethan Carter III vs. 'The Cowboy' James Storm vs. Magnus

Mathews mentions on commentary how strange it is that the winner of this match, will bypass the GFW champion Alberto El Patron...

One fall to the finish in this triple threat match. Storm takes the fight to both Carter and Magnus early on. He hits a Thesz press and a sling blade. All 3 men then end up battling to the outside. James gets his hands on a soda bottle from a fan at ringside. After taking a swig, He slams the bottle up against the heads of both EC3 and Magnus. Storm then takes a 'Make Impact Great Again' hat off of a fan and puts it on. He then continues to beat down on Carter and Magnus. Storm attempts to suplex Carter onto the ramp way but Magnus blocks it. Magnus and Carter then team up and double suplex Storm onto the rampway, as the show heads to break.

After the break, All 3 men are back in the ring with steel chairs. The Mangus-EC3 partnership continues and they beat down on James Storm. Carter and Magnus take turns striking Storm with a Singapore cane. Storm tries to fight back and clotheslines Carter down, but Magnus takes him down with a clothesline of his own. The beating and double teaming continues. When Carter attempts to strike Storm with the cane with Magnus holding him up, Carter accidentally hits Magnus. Carter tries to make amends with Magnus after the mistake. He lashes out a fallen Storm and then offers to hold up James for him. Magnus takes a swing at Storm but hits Carter instead. The partnership is out the window and Carter and Magnus go at it. They knock each other out and all 3 men are down. Storm gets up first and goes after Carter. He hits a flurry of offensive moves on him. Magnus tries to attack Storm from behind, but James ends up taking Magnus and Carter down with a DDT/neckbreaker combo. Storm then gets a hold of a steel chair and starts welting Carter and Magnus with it. Magnus is then set up in the corner with a trash can and Storm slams the steel chair into the trash can. Carter is back up and he ends up hitting a TK3 on Storm for a near pin fall. Carter then attempts a stinger splash on Magnus but misses. Magnus then hits running knees on EC3. Storm is back in the action and he hits an enzuguri on Magnus. He then hits a hangman's DDT on Carter onto the ring apron. Moments later, Magnus takes down Storm and gets in the clover leaf submission. EC3 recovers and hits Magnus from behind with a steel chair. Carter then hits the 1 percenter on Magnus for a very near pinfall. Storm's back and connects with a code breaker on EC3 through a steel chair. It leads to another near fall.

James Storm then makes his way to the top rope. Magnus joins him up there but ends hanging upside down from the top rope. Carter runs over and goes to suplex Storm off the top but at the same time, Magnus suplexes them both from the tree of woe position. Frantic finish sees Storm throw Carter into a steel chair in the corner. He then hits a neck breaker on Carter. Magnus breaks up the potential fall with a flying elbow. Storm then hits the last call kick on Magnus but before he can cover Magnus for the victory. EC3 high knees Storm to the outside and covers Magnus for the pinfall victory.

Ethan Carter III defeats James Storm & Magnus to become the #1 contender to The Impact World Championship

The show ends with EC3 celebrating his victory.

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