Impact recap & reactions: Doc Gallows arrested!

The latest episode of Impact Wrestling (Aug. 4, 2020) featured two title fights, more Wrestle House, an arrest, and a retirement angle.

The big stories were Heath being robbed of an Impact contract, Rich Swann supposedly retiring in what could be a storyline instead, and the arrest of Doc Gallows. The first two were covered separately last night, so let’s break down Doc in the clink.

It all started when the Good Brothers were innocently wandering the parking lot to their car. They found the door open and empty beer cans on the ground. Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows were more upset about the beer than the possible car theft. They were approached by law enforcement officers who saw the empty cans.

Ace Austin and Madman Fulton came on the scene trying to get the officers to arrest the Good Brothers. Gallows began choking Ace. Madman came in from behind, but Gallows shrugged him off. The officer then came from behind and Gallows popped him a little without looking. Gallows had thought it was Madman again. That resulted in the arrest of Gallows for assaulting an officer.

Later, Ace rubbed the incident in Anderson’s face. Anderson wasted no time punching Ace, but he went down after Madman joined in.

It sounds like the Big LG has been released from the authorities. He issued a stern warning for Ace and Madman.

This feud is most likely leading to a big match at Impact’s Emergence event (two nights on Aug. 18 & Aug. 25). Only two bouts have been announced so far:

• Knockouts Championship: Deonna Purrazzo vs Jordynne Grace
• Tag Team Championship: Motor City Machine Guns vs The North

Other contests that seem likely are:

• Good Brothers vs Ace Austin & Madman Fulton
• World Championship: Eddie Edwards’ open challenge
• TNA Heavyweight Championship: Moose vs EC3
• X-Division Championship: Chris Bey vs TJP
• RVD vs Sami Callihan
• Willie Mack vs Eric Young

Emergence is shaping up to be good viewing. That show should be packed with quality matches.

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Let’s roll through the rest of the show from beginning to end.

Josh Mathews and Madison Rayne handled commentary duties.

TNA Heavyweight Championship: Moose retained against Heath. Heath (fka Heath Slater) had big stakes besides the belt. If he wins, he earns a spot on the Impact roster. The bout began with ringside brawling. Moose took control by targeting Heath’s throat. Heath fired up after Moose called his kids ugly. Heath was on a roll then Irish whipped Moose into the referee by accident. Heath hit his Wake Up Call finisher, but the referee was out. Heath had an easy 7 count on his attempted pin. While Heath was trying to revive the ref, Moose low-blowed him and won via roll-up. Moose is still self-proclaimed TNA champ, and Heath is still without a job.

Willie Mack doesn’t know what Rich Swann’s announcement will be, but he does know that Eric Young is a dirtbag for injuring Rich.

EC3 promo. He has achieved everything he ever wanted and even a moment of perfection by winning the TNA title. Ever since that moment, he has been punished. To find his purpose, he must control his narrative. EC3 arrived in Impact to reclaim the TNA Heavyweight Championship and burn its legacy to the ground. Moose has been warned.

Motor City Machine Guns interview. Jimmy Jacobs chatted with Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley in the ring. MCMG came back to Impact to challenge themselves. When they were training together recently, they still felt team chemistry. They wanted to find out if they could still compete in Impact in 2020. The North interrupted.

Josh Alexander pointed out how The North has worked for everything, while MCMG were handed opportunities. Alexander did give credit to MCMG for their win over The North. That set off Ethan Page. He claimed The North was only at 40%. They will call in their automatic tag title rematch on their timeline. That would be for Emergence.

Kimber Lee entered the locker room of Deonna Purrazzo. Lee proposed that if she can take out Jordynne Grace before Emergence, then she’ll get the title shot instead. Purrazzo agreed to the deal. Lee will wrestle Grace next week.

Wrestle House, part 1.

Taya held a group bonding exercise to discuss hygiene lessons. Two side stories spawned from there. Kylie Rae was wondering when Rosemary would let them return to the Impact Zone, since Kylie was #1 contender. Rosemary told Kylie that it would happen when John E. Bravo takes a hint to become Rosemary’s man or sacrifice or whatever her goal is. On the other side of the room, Alisha Edwards noticed Susie and Cousin Jake sharing a vibe. Alisha wanted to teach Susie how to seduce Jake. Johnny Swinger overheard and claimed he could handle both ladies. Tommy Dreamer popped in to take that as a match request.

Alisha Edwards & Susie defeated Johnny Swinger. The gal pals double teamed the Swingman, busted his balls, and won with a running double splash.

Back to Wrestle House. Kylie tried to inform Bravo that Rosemary was interested. Bravo said he could take a hint.

Back in the Impact Zone, another teaser vignette played for Brian Myers.

Impact World Championship: Eddie Edwards retained against Sami Callihan. Callihan was answering Edwards’ open challenge. RVD and Katie Forbes ambushed Sami on the entrance stage as payback for last week’s hacker shenanigans to Forbes’ website. Callihan was hurt but still demanded to fight for the title.

Eddie hit a Tiger Driver in the first minute, but Sami kicked out of the cover. Despite Callihan’s pain, it was a lengthy match. In the end, the two exchanged their trademark heavy moves but couldn’t put the other away. Edwards hit a Blue Thunder Bomb and another Tiger Driver, and Callihan hit a piledriver. Sami started to lose his cool and grabbed a chair. The referee tried to talk him out of getting an immediate disqualification from using that steel. Sami eventually relented and dropped the chair. When he turned around, Edwards struck with a Boston Knee Party. A second Boston Knee Party to the back of the head put Callihan down for the count.

Wrestle House, part 2.

Jon E. Bravo packed his bags and left. Rosemary and Taya confronted Kylie about what she said to him. That led to a match.

Kylie Rae defeated Rosemary. Taya was the referee and crooked on the side of Rosemary. Kylie controlled the bout with comedy grappling and that ‘got your nose’ trick for little kids. Rosemary speared Kylie, but Kylie kicked out of a fast count from Taya. Bravo returned and started cheering for Rosemary. That distraction allowed Kylie to win via superkick.

After the match, Bravo spoke with Rosemary. He knows what’s going on, but he feels torn about Taya’s reaction. He owes so much to her, and she would be angry at their relationship. Rosemary suggested that maybe Taya doesn’t have to know. That’s when Taya came over to drag Bravo away by the ear.

Back in the Impact Zone, Hernandez was peeved about losing money to Rhino. He recruited Reno Scum for assistance. As long as they get money out of it, they will help Hernandez.

TJP & Fallah Bahh defeated Chris Bey & Rohit Raju. The story was TJP trying to make an impression to earn an X-Division title shot against Bey. TJP snapped Bey’s arm early, and that affected him the entire match. In the end, Rohit held TJP up for a springboard cutter from Bey, but TJP escaped and caught Bey in an armbar for the submission victory.

Rich Swann retires. Swann came to the ring in a walking boot and with crutches. He announced that he will retire due to the damage from Eric Young’s attack on his ankle. The locker room emptied to show support. Swann walked to the top of the entrance ramp to say goodbye, and that’s when EY ambushed Swann. He grabbed the crutch to whack Swann’s ankle again. The babyfaces ran up to chase EY away.

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Solid storytelling was the focus of this episode of Impact Wrestling. Doc Gallows being arrested was an amusing way for Ace Austin to rattle the Goods Brothers’ cage. Heath coming up short for an Impact contract had me on the edge of my seat. Due to referee shenanigans, I was eagerly awaiting a backstage scene righting that wrong. Too bad it never came. Let’s hope Impact offered some amount of monetary compensation to Heath for wrestling for a pretend title. He has kids to feed. With Rich Swann’s retirement promo, I bought in. I’m looking forward to seeing him bring the pain to Eric Young.

This was another episode light on wrestling. I don’t consider Wrestle House bouts as real matches, so there were only three contests. The good thing is that all three of those fights delivered on action. Although, I didn’t particularly like how the losers were protected in the title fights.

With Moose, at least that made sense with how he never wins clean. With Sami Callihan, he was presented too strong by overcoming a pre-match ambush that clearly hurt him and then only lost because he has trouble controlling his urge for violence. Eddie Edwards should have beat Sami without that moral dilemma at play. Sami isn’t in the title picture for a major event right now, so a strong loss would not have hurt his status.

EC3 cut yet another interesting promo. This one was more direct on his intent to recover the TNA Heavyweight Championship from Moose. I’m hoping Moose keeps the strap for a while longer. I’m enjoying his run as fake champ. However, I am very curious to see how EC3 would destroy the title. If the rumors are true that Impact purchased that belt as a replica from Pakistan, then I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.

Share your thoughts on Impact Wrestling. Who stole the show?

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