Several weeks ago, OldSchoolHeel started a competition on IMPACTasyulm.net for contributors or commenters on the site to show off their fantasy booking chops. The challenge was to book the first six weeks of IMPACT shows after Bound For Glory and end with a PPV. Certain allowances were made in regard to which performers the contestants were allowed to use, but for the most part, we had to keep things within the realm of plausibility. Otherwise, we were free to book pretty much whatever we wanted.
The final scores of the remaining contestants were:
I was hoping to pull out a victory, but the difference between first and third place was only 4 points, so it was a tight race. I also won for Best Storyline, so hello, $10 ShopImpact gift card! lol
The final scores of the remaining contestants were:
1. Darryn Simmons - 326.45
2. Raven Effect - 326.30
3. FK9 - 322.45
4. Eddie Harobi - 280.1
I was hoping to pull out a victory, but the difference between first and third place was only 4 points, so it was a tight race. I also won for Best Storyline, so hello, $10 ShopImpact gift card! lol
Here are all seven entries I wrote in their entirety. Enjoy!
IMPACT ASYLUM BOOKING CHALLENGE
WEEK 1
ARENA: The show opens with JB already in the ring. "Ladies and gentlemen," he says, "Please welcome for the last time ever, 7-time Knockouts champion, Gail Kim."
Gail Kim makes her entrance with the Knockouts championship belt on her shoulder, she walks around the ring, greeting and hugging various fans. She enters the ring as JB leads the crowd in a "Thank you, Gail!" chant and we get the moment to soak in her retirement that we didn't get at BFG. This goes for a minute or two before Gail takes the microphone.
Gail makes a speech, thanking everyone and admits to feeling rather melancholy when she heard JB say, "For the last time ever." It didn't really hit her until just then that this was the last time she was going to stand in this ring and she's sad about that. But she's got a great reminder of her time in the ring in this Knockouts championship. She was the first champion and the last because this belt is coming home with her and she's never letting it go.
She runs down all the various things she's accomplished in her career, all the ups and downs she's been through. It wasn't always easy and having her career cut short due to a back injury is a bitter pill to swallow because she felt there was so much left for her to do, but being able to go out on top like this makes it all worth it. She pauses. Her expression darkens. "At least... that's what I told myself."
Gail's demeanor changes. She begins talking about how the Knockout division began, how she had to fight for the company to create one, how special that original division was. It's clear that Gail is going off the cuff here. This part of the speech isn't something she'd planned to say, but she's caught up in the moment here and it's all just flowing out.
She says that at some point, things began to go downhill. After she left the company in 2008 for financial reasons, she still followed what was going on. She watched as management started hiring women who had no business being there, as the match quality went downhill, as the division that was so special to her unraveled with her unable to do anything about it.
Gail says that's why she came back, because she couldn't stand to see what was happening to her division without her there to hold it together. And she's worried that it's all going to happen again now that she can't be a part of it anymore. "That original division was so great, but I don't know if it will ever be that good again. This new division, these new girls... I just don't know. Things could all go wrong again, and it pisses me off that I can't be here to make sure that doesn't happen."
While Gail doesn't come right out and say it, the message being conveyed in this promo is that she doesn't have much faith in the current Knockout roster to keep the division that she considers her legacy alive. She sees herself as the one who made the division what it is and feels resentful of the newer girls that they're still here while her career was cut short because of her injury.
The segment ends on a dour note with a frustrated Gail cutting herself off mid-sentence. Too upset to talk anymore, she walks sullenly to the back, taking the title belt with her.
We silently fade out and cut to a...
COMMERCIAL BREAK
BACKSTAGE: Jim Cornette was waiting for Gail when she got to the back. He says he has a proposition he'd like to talk to her about.
PARKING LOT: Johnny Impact has just arrived. He stalks into the building, looking ready to kill someone.
ARENA: JB has been caught a bit off-guard by Gail's words as he rejoins the announce booth. Josh couldn't help but notice that Gail took the Knockouts title belt with her. JB admits that he thought the right thing to do would have been for her to relinquish the championship, but Gail is a legend and he's not going to question her decision. Josh says that Gail seemed kind of bitter about being forced to hang up her boots.
Moving on, they say X-division action is up next and we see shots of the wrestlers warming up backstage.
VIDEO PACKAGE: It spotlights Petey Williams and Sonjay Dutt. They talk about how they see themselves as kind of the gatekeepers of the X-division now. It's almost a completely new division these days, but the two of them are still there to represent the original division and they take a lot of pride in that. They say that they've been close friends for years and they're glad to be doing this together.
MATCH 1 - 6-MAN X-DIVISION TAG
Taiji Ishimori/Petey Williams/Sonjay Dutt vs Trevor Lee/Andrew Everett/Caleb Konley
The heels come out first, all wearing matching t-shirts with "The Cult of Lee" on them. Trevor Lee acknowledges several fans in the front row facing the hard camera who are all wearing the shirt as well. On his direction, they all chant, "Together, we are Trevor!"
As the faces make their entrance, the announcers inform us that by virtue of his victory at BFG, Ishimori will be Trevor Lee's next challenger for the X-division title in a few week's time.
During the match, Sonjay is noticeably bothered by the fans in the front row, who continue to chant, "Together, we are Trevor!" The finish comes when the babyfaces are closing in on a victory until Sonjay is momentarily distracted by the chanting fans, allowing Trevor to nail him with the X-division title belt behind the referee's back.
WINNERS: The Cult of Lee in 17:36
Post-match, Petey and Ishimori are angry about the shenanigans and a fight breaks out, but with Sonjay down, the heels have the numbers advantage and gain the upper hand. They retreat when Matt Sydal and Dezmond Xavier make the save.
The announcers switch gears and begin to talk about Bobby Lashley when they are informed that they need to abruptly cut to the backstage area where some sort of commotion has broken out.
BACKSTAGE: McKenzie Mitchell brings a camera with her as she approaches the area where they were storing all the merchandise, and it has been destroyed! Boxes ripped apart, tables broken, equipment all over the floor.
McKenzie asks a flustered production assistant what happened. "It was Rosemary," he says. "She showed up out of nowhere and just went berserk, smashed everything and left. I think she took some of the merchandise with her."
ARENA: The announcers are confused about what's going on, but they try to get back on track and say Bobby Lashley will be out next. Backstage, we see Lashley heading toward the ring, looking pissed off.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
We return from commercials and Lashley is stalking to ring alone. The announcers tell us that after what happened at BFG, Jim Cornette has put his foot down and informed American Top Team that if they ever try to enter his arena again, he will have them all prosecuted on multiple counts of assaulting IMPACT employees.
Bobby Lashley tears into Cornette, calling him a pussy for getting rid of ATT, but what's really got him pissed off is that Cornette renegged on granting Lashley his release from IMPACT. Lashley says this is a bunch of bullshit and if he's stuck here then he plans to make Cornette's life a living hell until he gets what he wants.
Moose appears on the tron, cutting Lashley off. He says that Lashley should forget about Cornette because Cornette was about to sign off on Lashley's release until Moose convinced him not to, so Moose is the reason Lashley can't leave. Nothing's been settled between the two of them, so Moose made sure that Lashley couldn't go anywhere until this thing is finished for good. Moose says that if Lashley really wants to unleash hell, he should come backstage and find him because he's right here waiting for him.
Lashley heads backstage immediately.
BACKSTAGE: McKenzie is with Jim Cornette. Cornette says it gave him no end of joy to be able to ruin Lashley's day like this, but he has other matters to attend to right now. Since they are now without a Knockouts champion, (and championship) Cornette announces the start of a tournament, which will kick off tonight. Sienna is the former champion and contractually owed a rematch, but since Gail is retired, Sienna has been given the first spot in the finals with the other spot going to the winner of the tournament. He had planned this to crown a new Knockouts champion, but with Gail deciding to retire with the belt, they will now be crowning the first ever IMPACT Women's champion.
Cornette then brings Gail in and says just minutes ago, he made Gail an offer and she accepted. Gail Kim is now in charge of IMPACT's women's division. She's going to be calling the shots, making the matches, etc. Cornette is happy as it's one less headache for him to deal with and Gail has regained her smile after the opening segment. Gail promises that they have some surprises in store for everyone.
ARENA: The Fact of Life set is being assembled by the crew. JB says that Eli Drake has promised the biggest guest in the history of the Fact of Life coming up next.
COMMERICAL BREAK
When we return, Chris Adonis is on the stage as music begins to play and Adonis introduces Eli Drake like a talk show announcer. They take their seats and Eli says he promised the biggest guest in the history of the Fact of Life and he delivered. He then introduces... himself.
Yes, Eli Drake interviews himself. He boasts about retaining at BFG and proving all the naysayers wrong and how Johnny Impact was good, but just not quite good enough. He's building up to a pretty epic self-congratulation when EC3's music hits.
EC3 comes out and says he just couldn't sit in the back and watch this anymore. It's nice that Eli is so pleased with himself for retaining his World title thanks to an Alberto El Patron sneak attack, but maybe he should be looking ahead to his next challenger. And since there isn't one lined up at the moment, EC3 suggests Eli defend the world title against him.
EC3 says he's sick and tired of not being the main event, not being the headliner. Somewhere along the way, he got off track, but that ends now. When he watched wrestling back in the day, the Intercontinental champion (2nd tier champion) was always the defacto #1 contender, and since he's the IMPACT Grand champion, he thinks that ought to make him the #1 contender. He wants to be the World champion again and challenges Eli to a title match.
Eli puts the jokes aside at this point and gets serious as he stands face to face with EC3. He says there's a lot wrong with what EC3 just said, but the one thing he said that was right was that he did get off the track, he just never got back on it. Maybe something broke inside him after he had to eat that loss to Matt Hardy or maybe when Aunt D took a powder, she took EC3's balls with her, but he's not the same guy he used to be and to suggest that he deserves a shot at Eli's title is a farce.
Eli now addresses the Grand championship. What EC3 just said about the Grand title being a path to a World title shot is the first time he's treated the Grand championship like it meant anything, and it wasn't until he thought it could do something for him. Sure, he seemed happy when he won it, but ever since he put on that dog and pony show, he's been acting like he was slumming it, having to carry the belt around with him.
"You think I hid the belt in my suitcase as I walked through the airport when I was Grand champion?" Eli asked. "The rules may be stupid, but I didn't care. I wore that belt to the airport, to the movies, to the hotel pool, to the tanning bed, in line at the super market, and that belt meant something. The title didn't make me, I made the title. Just I made this title," Eli holds up the world championship, "And continue to make it every damn day."
Eli goes on. "What about you, Ethan? When was the last time you even defended that belt? See, you might talk like a big shot, but I don't think you really understand what it means to be a truly global champion. You want to act like the Grand championship puts you in some kind of MMA ghetto, go ahead, but as long as you're carrying that belt around like you're embarrassed by it, it's not a path to anything. If you're wondering why you can't even sniff the World title scene right now, look in the mirror, dummy. Until then, the champ's got bigger fish to fry."
Eli drops the mic, hits the 'Dummy! Yeah!' button and leaves the set with Adonis. EC3 watches them leave, furious, but unable to come up with a response. He can't deny that what Eli just said had a lot of truth to it.
BACKSTAGE: Eli and Adonis walk through the curtain, crowing about how Eli just schooled the former golden boy. Not looking where he's going, Eli walks right into James Storm who seems to have been waiting there for him. "Hey, champ." Storm says. He says nothing else and just eyes the world title, stone-faced. Choosing not to poke the bear, Eli backs off and the heels head in the other direction. Storm follows them with his eyes.
We cut to Bobby Lashley searching for Moose. He hasn't found him yet.
ARENA: Amber Nova makes her entrance.
MATCH 2 - WOMEN'S TITLE TOURNAMENT PRELIMINARY ROUND
Amber Nova vs Diamante
LAX's music plays, but Diamante doesn't come out. We cut to backstage where Diamante is in the middle of a furious argument with Jim Cornette and Gail Kim. Apparently, Diamante jumped the gun when she entered herself in the tournament because she hasn't been medically cleared to return from her knee injury yet. Cornette explains that they can't legally put her in the ring until she gets clearance, but Diamante doesn't care and slaps the taste out of his mouth. Gail has security personnel restrain Diamante and yells that her spot in the tournament is forfeit.
Back in the arena, the referee declares Amber Nova the winner by default.
WINNER: Amber Nova in 0:00
VIDEO PACKAGE: It spotlights Texano and Fantasma, following their loss at BFG. They're upset with themselves for losing. They came to IMPACT to represent Mexico and AAA, and they have nothing to show for it. But that stops now because they're refocusing themselves. They have a new objective and it begins this Thursday.
BACKSTAGE: McKenzie is outside the women's locker room. She's hoping to get an interview with one of the tournament participants when Madison Rayne walks by and gives her a smug, "Hello." McKenzie is stunned to see her as we cut to...
COMMERCIAL BREAK
As we return, Gail is entering the women's locker room and greets Madison with a hug. Madison came to see Gail retire and was invited to be a part of the title tournament. She's in heel mode and speaks poorly of all the newer girls walking around. She thinks the Knockout roster is a far cry from what it was when the two of them were at the top.
"Don't get me started," Gail replies, embarrassed by Diamante's behavior. She wishes Madison luck tonight and says she expects her friend to class this tournament up.
ARENA: Mario Bokara/Fallah Bahh make their entrance, followed by Texano/Fantasma.
MATCH 3: TAG TEAM
Texano/Fantasma vs Mario Bokara/Fallah Bahh
The announcers explain that Texano/Fantasma are making an effort to put aside their issues with each other that we saw in the AAA international segments and work together. There's still some tension between them that causes some miscommunications early on, but they pull themselves together and don't let it interfere in the match when it counts. The AAA guys are very aggressive and win in convincing fashion.
WINNERS: Texano/Fantasma in 7:19.
VIDEO PACKAGE: oVe defeating LAX at BFG thanks to Sami Callihan. Dave and Jake don't specify who Sami is, only that he is family.
BACKSTAGE: Lashley is looking for Moose in the catering area. He asks a PA where Moose is. When the PA doesn't know, Lashley grabs him and puts him through the catering table.
ARENA: The women make their entrances for the next match.
MATCH 4: WOMEN'S TITLE TOURNAMENT PRELIMINARY ROUND
Madison Rayne vs Laurel Van Ness
LVN enters through the crowd, playing up to the fans in the audience like she has in previous weeks. She has not regained any semblance of sanity since getting her revenge on Grado. She's still dressed outlandishly, still acting like a lunatic, still has makeup smeared all over her face, but she's in full babyface mode here.
As the bell rings, Madison looks embarrassed to even be in the same ring with this wacko and is caught off guard when LVN goes on the offensive immediately. The match is competitive, but LVN's crazy appearance and behavior causes Madison to underestimate her and act over-confident. LVN wins with the Unprettier.
WINNER: Laurel Van Ness in 8:00.
BACKSTAGE: Gail is watching the match on a monitor, not happy with the outcome, when Sienna approaches her. Gail isn't in the mood to talk, but Sienna doesn't let her leave. Sienna says Gail may not look like Karen Jarrett, but she's no different. She only got put in charge of the women's division because of nepotism after she proved just how selfish she really is. Sienna says the classy thing to do would have been to relinquish the Knockouts championship, but Gail couldn't bring herself to do that because it would kill her to have to watch Sienna win it back. But the joke's going to be on Gail because now she gets to watch Sienna win the inaugural IMPACT Women's championship and become the centerpiece of a whole new division while Gail spends the rest of her life sitting behind a desk, wiping dust off the Knockouts title and pretending it's not as irrelevant as she is.
"We'll see." Gail is keeping her cool, but Sienna's words have struck a nerve. "Is there anything else I can help you with?" she asks sarcastically.
"Yeah," says Sienna. "Invest in an air freshener. It smells like smoke in here."
Gail watches Sienna silently as she leaves.
PARKING LOT: The camera follows McKenzie as she runs out to the loading dock area that connects to the parking lot where backstage personnel with fire extinguishers are putting out a fire. One of them tells McKenzie that someone made off with a bunch of IMPACT merchandise and set it ablaze out here. McKenzie inspects the remains of the fire and picks up a half burned poster of Taya Valkyrie. She looks around nervously. "Rosemary...?" she murmurs.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
We return to a very dark backstage hallway where a camera man has located Rosemary unbeknownst to her and is shooting her from around a corner. There's glass all over the floor; Rosemary smashed most of the overhead lights to make it darker. She's sitting on the floor, rocking back and forth, muttering to herself that she has no place to put her rage. With the Norse Reaper retreating to America, there could be no Red Wedding at BFG, but the Hive still demands blood.
"Still demands blood... still demands blood... still demands blood..." She repeats this over and over as she picks up a shard of glass and tries to cut herself with it.
"Wait," says a voice in the shadows, stopping her. Abyss emerges from the dark hallway behind Rosemary. "You're confused."
"The Hive is confused," Rosemary replies. Abyss agrees and they acknowledge their inexplicable behavior at BFG where Rosemary helped Grado, only for Abyss to try to chokeslam her and then them trying to take out Grado together. Apparently, their actions made no sense to them either. Rosemary doesn't understand why she would act this way, (seriously, why would she help Grado?!) why she would do these things, and it makes her uneasy.
"The Hive has been confused for some time now," says Abyss. He explains that it started when their brother Steve was lost. The reason Abyss disappeared after that was because he felt an unusual sensation, something he couldn't explain, a strange pull in a different direction, a pull away from the Shadow.
Rosemary admits to feeling something similar in recent months, but sensed a potential kinship outside of the darkness. Abyss asks if she refers to her spirit animal, but Rosemary snaps at him, saying the Bunny is harmless and to leave her out of this. Abyss urges Rosemary to be careful, because for those such as them, alliances outside of the Shadow can be seductive, but also... treacherous.
Rosemary doesn't understand. Abyss explains that the Shadow birthed them, the Shadow is where they reside, but it's impossible for them to exist there eternally because where there is shadow, there is also light. Light and darkness; two opposing forces locked in an endless struggle. One cannot exist without the other, but they will never stop trying to destroy each other. That's why he's here.
Rosemary is upset that Abyss is being so vague. She wants him to explain himself, but he remains evasive. Abyss says that he doesn't know when or if they'll see each other again. In fact, he shouldn't even be here tonight, but he had to come. He had to warn Rosemary.
"Warn us about what?" she asks.
"Something that wants to lead you to ruin, something with horrible intentions."
Rosemary scoffs at this, thinking he refers to Taya Valkyrie. "The Norse Reaper is cowering in the south."
"Not her," Abyss says. "Something much worse. Something that wants to extinguish the Shadow."
"What?" she asks.
"The Light." With that, Abyss backs into the dark hallway and out of sight.
Rosemary is left alone and confused.
The camera man accidentally steps on some glass. The noise alerts Rosemary and she turns to see him. Before he can do anything, she hisses and lunges at him. Screaming, he drops the camera and the shot goes to static for a moment.
ARENA: JB and Josh have no idea what to make of this. Josh wonders where management found these psychopaths and asks if Abyss always spoke in riddles and horror movie lingo. "Not like this," JB says. "This is new."
VIDEO PACKAGE: Alberto El Patron ruining the main event of BFG.
Patron's music plays and he appears on the stage. He takes a mic from a PA, but he doesn't get a chance to talk as Johnny Impact appears and attacks him on the ramp. They spend quite a while brawling all over the ringside area and into the crowd. Patron tries to climb over the balcony and escape, but Johnny dives off the balcony to take him out. It takes a dozen security guards to finally separate them.
BACKSTAGE: McKenzie is in the interview area, standing by with Allie. Allie is incredibly excited to be in the Women's title tournament, she's been training harder than ever and she really feels like she deserves to go to the finals. It's been her dream to be a champion in IMPACT and she thinks this could finally be her time.
McKenzie tells her that the tournament brackets have her facing Rosemary in the preliminary round and Allie's excitement vanishes as McKenzie points out how Rosemary seems to have gone off the deep end tonight. Nervous, Allie insists that Rosemary is her friend. And just because Rosemary's a little angry right now, she's sure the two of them can have a normal match where no one gets grievously injured and may the best woman win and they can still be friends afterward.
"We're friends," Allie says. "Really good friends." Allie is terrified and really bad at hiding it.
We cut to Lashley, still searching. He yells for Moose to come out and show himself because he's tired if this cat-and-mouse crap. His phone rings and he answers it. He tells the caller that he's still looking, but he's going to check one more place and then meet him in the parking lot.
Cut to Moose in a secluded area watching this phone call on a monitor. "Parking lot," he says to himself, grinning. "Gotcha." He heads for the parking lot as we cut to...
COMMERCIAL BREAK
PARKING LOT: The camera follows Moose as he searches the parking lot and finds Dan Lambert waiting for Lashley. Moose knew Lambert couldn't stay away. Getting the jump on him before he can run, Moose grabs Lambert and carries him to a nearby porta-potty. "You want to act like a piece of shit?" Moose asks. "You should feel right at home in here!" Moose throws Lambert into the porta-potty, locks him inside and tips the porta-potty over.
Lambert screams from inside. Moose laughs, but this distracts him as Lashley attacks from behind. The two of them brawl into the lot. They're evenly matched, but Lashley is livid and low blows Moose.
"You think this is funny?" Lashley yells. "You think this is a joke? You've got nothing on me, you son of a bitch! You couldn't beat me when you had two arms! Let's see you try it with one!"
Lashley opens the door of a nearby car and slams the door shut on Moose's arm.
As Moose writhes in pain on the ground, we...
FADE OUT
----------
WEEK 2
VIDEO PACKAGE: We recap last week's show. The Eli Drake/EC3 segment is saved for last. We then transition to EC3 returning to the backstage area after that segment with a caption that reads "WHAT YOU DIDN'T SEE." EC3 is furious, demanding to know where Jim Cornette is. Finding Cornette in his office, EC3 kicks the door in and starts yelling at Cornette about Eli Drake, about the Grand championship, about a lot of things.
We transition to Cornette, facing the camera, addressing the audience. He says that due to recent events, he has decided to make some changes to the Grand championship. The three round point system the title is known for was created by a different regime and while it was an interesting experiment, he is pulling the plug on it. Previous management wanted to use it to tap into the MMA craze, but quite frankly, after the last few months, Cornette is sick of MMA and wants to get back to professional wrestling. The talent and the fans have spoken, so effective immediately, he is abolishing the three round point system. The Grand championship will now be a normal wrestling championship, contested under normal professional wrestling rules. What's more, EC3 is beginning a weekly open challenge to anyone on the IMPACT roster or from IMPACT's international partners, and it begins now.
ARENA: EC3 makes his entrance. His open challenge has been accepted by KM.
KM cuts a promo saying that, as IMPACT's only undefeated superstar, he deserves to be the Grand champion, not EC3, and doing his "Are you calling me a liar?" catchphrase when EC3 says that KM is about as undefeated as the Dallas Cowboys. This angers KM and he attacks EC3 to start the match.
MATCH 1 - GRAND TITLE MATCH
KM vs EC3 (c)
KM is showing a new intensity here. The announcers suggest that he's tired of being overlooked. He avoids several attempts by EC3 to hit the One Percenter before finally falling to the TK3.
WINNER: EC3 in 9:08
Post-match KM is not happy, yelling at the fans at ringside as he walks to the back.
BACKSTAGE: Allie is looking for Rosemary, asking people if anyone has seen her.
ARENA: Alberto El Patron comes out for a promo. He says that what IMPACT management did to him, forcing him to relinquish the world title for an incident that wasn't even his fault, that was personal. He calls it an insult to him and his family. What Patron did to Johnny Impact at BFG, however, that wasn't personal, but simply business. His issue is with management, not with Johnny and he urges Johnny to stay out of his way for his own sake.
Patron doesn't get to finish his promo because Johnny Impact hits the ring and attacks. Security personnel try to separate them, pulling Patron out of the ring, but Johnny fights them off, vaults up the turnbuckle and dives to the floor, taking out everyone. Patron tries to escape through the side exit, but Johnny runs up the ramp and dives off the stage to attack him again. This time Patron is ready for him, though, and nails him with a kick in mid-air. He continues beating Johnny down until security finally restrains him.
Jim Cornette comes out and says that if they want to kill each other so bad, they can do it in the ring tonight.
BACKSTAGE: Allie is still looking for Rosemary and happens upon a darkened hallway where the lights have been taken out. Nervous, she heads down the hallway.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
We return to Allie as she has found Rosemary alone in the dark muttering to herself incoherently. Allie is hoping to talk about them facing each other in the Women's title tournament next week. Rosemary seemed really upset last week and Allie just wants to make sure everything is okay.
Rosemary doesn't answer her. She's obsessing over what Abyss said to her last week, that "the Light" has terrible intentions towards her and she doesn't know what that means. Rosemary begins frantically clawing at herself and pulling at her hair, asking what it means over and over. She's becoming unhinged. More so than usual.
Allie doesn't know what to make of this, but suggests that maybe if Rosemary has a match, she might work out some of this stress and feel better. Rosemary likes this idea and it seems to calm her. She says the Bunny is wiser than she appears and pats Allie on the head, then walks out of the shot, leaving Allie completely weirded out.
We cut to Dezmond Xavier entering Jim Cornette's office. He asks Cornette what he needs to do to earn a shot at the X-division championship. Cornette was just having a similar conversation with Matt Sydal, who is also there. He tells them that, while they're both deserving of a title shot, there are people in line ahead of them right now, but if they feel like turning some heads, he'd be happy to book them against each other tonight so they can make a case for themselves. They both agree.
VIDEO PACKAGE: Recapping Gail Kim's retirement, her being put in charge of the Knockouts and the announcement of the Women's title tournament.
Cut to Gail Kim looking over some paperwork when Jim Cornette approaches her. He says he considered the request she made to him after last Thursday, but tells her that they simply cannot suspend Rosemary. Gail is incredulous at this; Rosemary destroyed merchandise, started a fire, caused damage to the venue -- if anything, she should be future endeavored, Gail insists.
Cornette acknowledges that Gail isn't exactly wrong, but she's not seeing the big picture. For one, Rosemary is the biggest star they have in the Women's title tournament and will put more butts in seats than any last minute replacement they could find. Second, the amount of merchandise she destroyed is insignificant compared to the amount she sells. Third, Rosemary is a draw in Canada, and since they plan on shooting a lot of TV here in the future, she isn't someone they can afford to keep on the sidelines.
Gail is angry about this. "So it's not enough that she turns my division into a mental asylum, but now I can't even bench her when she acts like an arsonist? I don't want her in this tournament, Jim! What did you even put me in charge for if I can't make calls like this? I thought the Knockouts were supposed to be working for me!" While Gail does make a legitimate point, we get a hint that her hard feelings towards Rosemary might go a bit beyond what Rosemary did last week. Gail tries to hide it, but there's some resentment peeking through the cracks here.
Cornette clarifies Gail's job for her. The women (and he stresses 'women' because they're not called Knockouts anymore) may work for Gail, but Gail works for him and he works for Anthem. This means Anthem have the final say in everything and Anthem like Rosemary. They think she's marketable -- hell, they made her the initial face of the Global Wrestling Network app -- so they're willing to put up with a lot of craziness from Rosemary as long as she's kept on a leash. She'll be reprimanded and fined for the property damage, but the suspension isn't going to happen. Cornette is sympathetic to Gail's demand, but the answer is no.
Cornette ends the conversation, leaving Gail fuming.
ARENA: The women make their entrances.
MATCH 2 - WOMEN'S TITLE TOURNAMENT PRELIMINARY ROUND
Ava Storie vs Kiera Hogan
JB and Josh impart some general information about Kiera and tell us she's one of several new talents that have been brought in to be a part of this tournament. JB says he was talking to Kiera before the show and she told him she's wanted to be a part of this women's division since she was seventeen.
Kiera, playing babyface, is given a lot of offense to showcase what she's got. Ava puts up a fight, but Kiera gets the victory.
WINNER: Kiera Hogan in 4:49
Post-match, Kiera is so excited that she jumps the crowd barrier and celebrates with the audience. JB says this is a moment she's been working toward for five years, so it must be pretty thrilling for her.
BACKSTAGE: Johnny Impact is warming up for his match with Patron by doing some complicated parkour routine on some backstage equipment and finishing with push ups. McKenzie Mitchell tries to interview him, but he isn't interested in talking.
VIDEO PACKAGE: It spotlights Taiji Ishimori. He says his sites are set on Trevor Lee and he wants to bring the X-division title to Japan for the honor and glory of Pro Wrestling NOAH.
Cut to the Cult of Lee watching this video on a monitor. "How un-Trevor-like," says Trevor Lee.
We cut to Petey Williams and Sonjay Dutt heading for the ring. The announcers say X-division action is up next.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
ARENA: The wrestlers make their entrances.
Petey Williams/Sonjay Dutt vs Andrew Everett/Caleb Konley (w/ Trevor Lee)
Trevor Lee interacts with a number of fans at ringside who are all wearing "The Cult of Lee" t-shirts. There are noticeably more of them than last week. They all chant "Together, we are Trevor!"
Trevor tries the same distraction tactic with the fan chants that worked on Sonjay last week, but Ishimori comes out and Trevor becomes preoccupied, retreating from him. Free of distractions, the babyfaces gain the advantage and score the victory.
WINNERS: Petey Williams/Sonjay Dutt in 10:21
Post-match, Trevor Lee isn't happy and berates his two minions.
BACKSTAGE: KM is in the locker room, boasting to Kongo Kong about his epic victory over EC3 earlier. "Of course I beat EC3! Are you calling me a liar?!" he exclaims.
KM's phone rings and he answers it. He listens to the caller for a minute and seems interested in what this person is saying. He suggests they meet in person to discuss this further.
Cut to Trevor Lee, still angry about the loss. Andrew Everett and Caleb Konley are apologetic, but that isn't good enough. Trevor says the two of them must redeem themselves. When they ask how, Trevor turns to the cameraman, he looks right into the camera for a moment before covering the lens with his hand. We cut away without hearing what he tells them.
ARENA: The women make their entrances for the next tournament match.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
MATCH 4 - WOMEN'S TITLE TOURNAMENT PRELIMINARY ROUND
KC Spinelli vs MJ Jenkins
Competitive, back and forth match. It ends with Spinelli leveling Jenkins with a discuss clothesline and finishing her with a moonsault.
WINNER: KC Spinelli in 5:25
Post-match, Spinelli pats herself on the back, acting very cocky and arrogant. She's characterized as an outgoing, Type A, loudmouth.
BACKSTAGE: McKenzie interviews Sienna, asking for her thoughts about the tournament thus far and who she hopes her opponent in the finals will be. Sienna tells 'McKenna' that it doesn't matter who her opponent is because the outcome will be the same. When asked about possibly facing Rosemary who many people are calling the favorite to win the tourney, Sienna avoids answering the question, saying that she would have loved to face Gail Kim and kick her ass one last time, but Gail ducked her straight into retirement.
LAX CLUBHOUSE: LAX are playing poker. Santana and Ortiz have folded, so it's down to Konnan and Diamante. Konnan has the better hand and wins the pot. Angry, Diamante throws her cards down and flips the table over. The others try to calm her down and Konnan asks what's going on with her because she's been on a hair trigger all week.
Diamante is pissed off that she couldn't enter the Women's title tournament last week. She's been rehabbing her knee every day for months, but she still isn't expected to be cleared until 2018 and she missed out on a chance to win a title shot.
Konnan assures her that she'll get her shot when her knee is 100%, but right now they need to focus on their rematch for the tag team titles next week. Diamante reluctantly agrees, though she's frustrated that the sausage party has been getting all the opportunities around here. She's fed up with not being able to wrestle and is very anxious to get physically involved in LAX's business again.
We cut to Petey Williams and Sonjay Dutt. They're in a good mood after getting one over on the Cult of Lee. Petey suggests they go get some dinner. This sounds good to Sonjay, he just needs to grab his stuff. The camera follows Sonjay as he heads to the locker room. After he enters, Andrew Everett and Caleb Konley quietly follow him inside.
VIDEO PACKAGE: It recaps the Lashley/Moose altercation last week and Lashley injuring Moose's arm -- the same arm that Moose clotheslined Lashley's head off with when Moose debuted in the company. It's intercut with Lashley boasting about injuring Moose. He calls the injury symbolic as we see Moose getting his arm put in a cast. Lashley says the pain will only get worse. He's going to tear this entire company apart until he gets what he wants.
ARENA: Dezmond Xavier and Matt Sydal make their entrances.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
MATCH 5: X-DIVISION
Dezmond Xavier vs Matt Sydal
Xavier and Sydal are evenly matched. Neither can seem to gain a distinct advantage. After several back and forth pin attempts, Sydal wins with a roll up
WINNER: Matt Sydal in 7:04
They shake hands post-match, but Xavier is disappointed in the outcome.
BACKSTAGE: A camera man catches Caleb Konley and Andrew Everett carrying Sonjay Dutt's unconscious body out of the building. They throw Sonjay into a car and drive away.
We cut to the interview area where McKenzie is standing by with Alberto El Patron and she asks him about his match with Johnny Impact tonight. Patron says that at BFG, his issue was with management, not with Johnny Impact, but Johnny just can't leave well enough alone and if he continues buzzing around Patron like a gnat, Patron is going to have to swat him like one.
ARENA: Rosemary makes her entrance.
Rosemary cuts a promo admitting that she's been confused recently. The Shadow has been speaking to her in riddles and she doesn't know what it all means, but a little Bunny reminded her that the best way to achieve clarity was to beat her troubles away. She challenges anyone backstage to come out and face her.
Unfamiliar music plays and the debuting Hania walks down the ramp to accept Rosemary's challenge.
Before the bell, JB reminds the viewers that this is not a Women's title tournament match, but both women will compete in preliminary round matches next week.
MATCH 6: WOMEN
Rosemary vs Hania
Hania goes for a collar and elbow tie up, but Rosemary overpowers her, knocking her off her feet. Hania backs into a corner as Rosemary approaches...
Suddenly the arena lights go out. We can't see anything, but we hear the sound of someone being attacked and hitting the mat. The lights come back on and Rosemary is lying on the mat out cold. Hania is shocked, unsure of what has just happened. She looks around for the attacker and doesn't see anyone, then shrugs and pins Rosemary.
WINNER: Hania in 1:04
Post-match, Allie runs out to check on Rosemary. She thinks Hania was behind the attack. Hania acts innocent, but smug about the easy win regardless. Hania is characterized as an opportunist heel with a bit of a mean streak.
The announcers ponder what just happened here. JB doesn't think Hania was the attacker, as she did look genuinely surprised when Rosemary was laid out. Josh wonders if this has something to do with what Abyss said to Rosemary last week. Is "the Light" some meta-physical concept like the Shadow they're always talking about or could it be an actual person?
VIDEO PACKAGE: It spotlights James Storm reminiscing about his career. He talks about his time with Chris Harris in America's Most Wanted, notable moments they had, up until the team broke up. He says that after the end of AMW, he had planned to take a stab at a serious singles run, but the wrestling gods had other ideas. TO BE CONTINUED...
BACKSTAGE: We see shots of Johnny Impact and Alberto El Patron heading for the ring. The main event is up next.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
ARENA: Eli Drake comes out and joins the announce booth. He says the only way to make a match between these two chumps entertaining is if the champ with the golden belt and the silver tongue does the commentary for it.
MATCH 7: HEAVYWEIGHT
Johnny Impact vs Alberto El Patron
Johnny comes out first. As Patron is making his entrance, Johnny springboards off the ropes and dives to take out Patron before he can enter the ring.
During the match, Eli talks about Cornette booking him in a rematch with Johnny Impact next week since their BFG bout was interrupted and also Patron's potential claim to the title since he was never beaten for it. Eli knows he's going to have to face both men in the near future, but he's confident that neither has a chance since they're both so focused on killing each other right now that they've taken their eye off the ball.
Impact and Patron are fighting furiously and don't much care when the referee tries to separate them. Impact keeps going high risk and the action spills over the ropes to the outside. They continue fighting around ringside, but their tempers have gotten the better of them and they both miss the official's count.
WINNER: Double count out. 6:28
Impact and Patron don't seem to care or even notice that the match has ended. They brawl up the ramp and wind up at the announce desk. Impact dives at Patron again, but Patron dodges and Impact crashes into Eli instead.
With Impact stunned, Patron nails him with a steel chair and sets up to put him through the announce table, but he doesn't get the chance when Eli grabs his championship and nails Impact in the face with a belt shot. Eli and Patron have a momentary stare down before Eli nails Patron with a belt shot as well.
With Patron and Impact both down, Eli Drake stands over them and raises the world championship high.
The announcers suggest that Patron and Impact may have been more focused on each other than Eli Drake tonight, but next week, that might start to change.
VIDEO PACKAGE: It hypes the BFG rematches for the tag team and World championships on next week's show.
FADE OUT
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WEEK 3
VIDEO PACKAGE: It hypes tonight being a really big show with two huge BFG championship rematches.
We open on a close up on Johnny Impact's face looking into the camera. He says that he's been a champion in every company he's ever worked for, but there are plenty of wrestlers who can say that and he's never been interested in being like everybody else. He had a lot of goals when he became a professional wrestler, but the one at the top of the list was to be remembered as one of the best ever, and to do that, he knew he needed to do something that no one else has ever done. When he came to IMPACT, he had one thing in mind and that was the World championship. This is intercut with footage of him winning the AAA title in Mexico. Johnny says he wanted to do something that would go in the history books. He wanted to be the first wrestler in history to hold the AAA title and IMPACT World title at the same time, and at BFG, he was so close to achieving that goal until it was snatched away from him. This is intercut with footage of Alberto El Patron disrupting the BFG main event. Johnny says that tonight he gets a second chance to make history. Tonight he gets his rematch against Eli Drake for the world title, and this time, nothing is going to stop him.
BACKSTAGE: Jim Cornette and security personnel rush into the locker room where Petey Williams is brawling furiously with the Cult of Lee. As security separates everyone, Cornette lays down the law. He tells the Cult of Lee that he's seen the footage from last week, he knows they abducted Sonjay Dutt and he's not taking this situation lightly. Kidnapping may have been something that was quietly dismissed under previous regimes, but he's putting a stop to this right now. If he doesn't have eyes on Sonjay before the end of tonight's show, not only will the Cult of Lee all be unemployed, they'll be behind bars.
Cornette implores Petey to not escalate this situation. Trevor Lee still has a title defense booked tonight and they still have a show to put on. He promises he will get to the bottom of this, but until Trevor's match is finished, he asks that Petey just keep his distance from the Cult of Lee.
ARENA: The announcers welcome everyone to the show and run down the jam packed card for tonight. Four title bouts, two of them BFG rematches, and the most hotly-anticipated match of the Women's title tournament with DemonBunny going head to head as Allie faces Rosemary in the final match of the preliminary round.
EC3 makes his entrance for his weekly open challenge. This week, his challenge has been accepted by Kongo Kong.
MATCH 1: GRAND TITLE MATCH
Kongo Kong vs EC3 (c)
EC3 wastes no time and goes on the offensive immediately. The announcers discuss how EC3 seems to have found a new focus. What Eli Drake said to him in Week 1 seems to have lit a fire under him.
Kong avoids every attempt by EC3 to hit his finisher, but is flabbergasted when he hits his own finisher and EC3 kicks out of it -- the first person to do so. With Kong thrown off his game, he starts making mistakes, allowing EC3 to win with a roll up.
WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: EC3 in 9:04
Post-match, Kong is furious and throws a fit at ringside until KM (on his phone with the caller from last week) comes out and talks to him. They quietly exchange words we can't hear and leave together.
VIDEO PACKAGE: It spotlights Marafuji who is back in Japan at Pro Wrestling NOAH. He says he's been following the show and saw something last week that intrigued him. He recalls his interactions with EC3 during his stint in IMPACT over the summer and feels that the two of them have unfinished business.
BACKSTAGE: We see Hania and Alisha Edwards heading for the ring. The Women's title tournament continues after the break.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
MATCH 2: WOMEN'S TITLE TOURNAMENT PRELIMINARY ROUND
Hania vs Alisha Edwards
Despite Alisha's best efforts, Hania is simply too much for her. She gets in one pin attempt, which causes Hania to lose her temper. Hania gets much more aggressive after this, scoring an impressive, dominant win with a submission hold. After the bell, she refuses to release the hold and the referee has to pull her off.
WINNER: Hania in 4:26
Post-match, the announcers agree that Hania could be a dark horse contender in this tournament if she continues performing like she did tonight. JB says Hania seems to have a vicious streak that the other women should watch out for.
BACKSTAGE: McKenzie Mitchell interviews Allie about her tournament match against Rosemary tonight. Allie is excited, but clearly scared out of her wits because Rosemary seems to be growing more and more unhinged, and the mysterious attack on her last week has only made things worse. Allie says she still believes that Hania was the attacker, but she can't worry about that now. She once again insists that her and Rosemary are friends and that Rosemary wouldn't take her troubles out on Allie. She doesn't sound sure of this at all. During the interview, we can hear the distant sounds of a woman screaming somewhere off-camera. Allie turns toward the direction of the screams, looking more than a little frightened.
We cut to a different backstage area where a camera man is zooming in on Rosemary from far away so as to film her from a safe distance. Rosemary is frantically pacing back and forth, screaming about riddles and "the Light" and not knowing what it all means. Unable to contain herself, Rosemary begins throwing things, knocking over shelves, tearing apart anything she can get her hands on. Her troubles over the last few weeks have made her angry and thirsty for blood; she doesn't seem to care whose.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
VIDEO PACKAGE: It recaps the Lashley/Moose parking lot brawl from Week 1, this time from Moose's perspective, and we see Moose getting his arm put in a cast by a doctor. Despite the injury, Moose is still determined to finish things with Lashley. He says Lashley's mistake was in only breaking his arm and not his neck.
ARENA: Dezmond Xavier makes his entrance. The announcers inform us that he requested a rematch with Matt Sydal as he wasn't happy with his performance from last week. He believes that he's better than he showed in that match and that he is on the same level as Sydal.
MATCH 3: X-DIVISION
Dezmond Xavier vs Matt Sydal
Another very equal contest between these two. The finish comes when Xavier reverses a Sydal pin attempt into one of his own.
WINNER: Dezmond Xavier in 8:48
Post-match, Sydal is surprised by the outcome, but is a good sport about it. He raises Xavier's hand in a show of respect, impressed with his opponent's skills.
BACKSTAGE: McKenzie interviews Gail Kim. Gail makes some generic comments about the Women's title tournament so far, but her expression darkens when McKenzie asks for her thoughts about the final match of the preliminary round tonight -- Rosemary vs Allie. McKenzie points out how Rosemary has become very difficult to reign in since BFG and her mystery attacker last week must have a lot of people on edge.
Gail says she has no idea who the attacker was, but unprofessional behavior won't be tolerated in her division. She claims that she's going to rebuild this division on a foundation of professionalism, dignity and respect -- the kind she had to fight so hard for, for so many years -- and refuses to have it ruined by sideshow antics. As for the match tonight, she doesn't offer an opinion and only says, "May the best Knockout win." Gail tries to appear unbiased, but can't hide the smug tone in her voice. It's clear that she wouldn't lose any sleep if Rosemary's mystery attacker showed up again tonight.
VIDEO PACKAGE: It recaps oVe defeating LAX at BFG thanks to Sami Callahan, with comments from all three after the match. The Crist brothers are showing a darker edge than they have before and Sami promises violence to anyone who gets in their way.
Via, split-screen, we see shots of oVe and LAX heading for the arena.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
ARENA: The teams make their entrances.
MATCH 4: TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH
LAX vs oVe (c)
LAX are slowly gaining the advantage until Sami Callahan jumps out of the crowd and attacks Santana while oVe distract the referee. Losing her cool, Diamante tries to go after Sami. Konnan attempts to hold her back, but she doesn't care. She shoves Konnan aside, charges at Sami and jumps on his back.
The announcers remind us of how Diamante was so fed up with being on the bench because of her knee injury last week and say that her frustration may have gotten the better of her here. Konnan urges Diamante to back off, but she's beating Sami furiously and refuses to back down. Diamante actually has Sami on the defensive for a minute by targeting his eyes and gets him to back up the ramp until he attacks her injured knee and she goes down. With Diamante now helpless, Sami picks her up and piledrives her through the announce table.
Sami's interference has done its work. Back in the ring, oVe are able to hit their finisher and get the pin.
WINNERS AND STILL CHAMPIONS: oVe in 8:08
COMMERCIAL BREAK
Back from the break, we see footage of the medical staff tending to Diamante during the commercials; she's groggy, she can't stand on her own and has to be carried to the back. Watching from the ring, pleased with their handiwork, oVe and Sami all do Sami's 'thumbs down' gesture.
BACKSTAGE: Jim Cornette catches up with oVe and Sami, and asks them what the hell that was all about. oVe are angry that he would even ask such a thing. For months, they had to deal with LAX playing the numbers game against them, Konnan attacking them with the entire Crash roster, and they were sick of it, so they returned to their Ohio stomping ground and brought back an equalizer. They say all they did was level the playing field, so don't blame them if LAX can dish it out, but can't take it. Sami says that they're not playing LAX's game anymore, LAX are playing theirs.
Cornette says that if Sami is so confident about that, then he won't mind making his in-ring debut against a member of LAX next week.
VIDEO PACKAGE: It spotlights Fantasma and Texano training together down in Tijuana. They acknowledge that they've been enemies in the past and let this hold them back. They both came to IMPACT with the same goals and up until now they've failed because their mutual enmity was sabotaging them and they feel that they let everyone down. We see them cutting a babyface promo in front of a AAA crowd (this can be a non-televised event so as not to effect AAA storylines; it's really just so the IMPACT audience can see them doing it) where they promise that they are done fighting each other and as long as they're wrestling in IMPACT, they're going to fight for AAA and for Mexico.
ARENA: JB and Josh explain how, several weeks back, the Red Wedding match had to be pulled from the BFG card when Taya Valkyrie couldn't make it to the show and then begin a phone interview with Taya.
Taya says she was devastated to miss BFG as she was so looking forward to painting the ring with Rosemary's blood, but she was prevented from entering Canada because of a work visa issue, so she can't leave the United States for the time being. She's upset about it, but her lawyer is working on the problem now and she insists that the Red Wedding match WILL happen as soon as this is sorted out. In the meantime, Taya has been watching the show from home and it seems to her that Rosemary has other problems to worry about right now, which she's been getting a kick out of. "Looks like I'm not the only one who enjoys making her life a living hell," she laughs.
VIDEO PACKAGE: It spotlights James Storm reminiscing about his time in Beer Money. He says he had felt lost in the shuffle for a while after AMW broke up and Beer Money is what really put him back in the spotlight. But even with how successful Beer Money were, Storm admits that a part of him always felt like he was walking a path he'd already traveled once before. TO BE CONTINUED...
BACKSTAGE: McKenzie interviews Trevor Lee. Trevor says that Jim Cornette thinks banning the Cult of Lee from ringside during his title defense tonight will stop him, but he can't stop the Cult and Ishimori can't stop the Cult because the Cult is everywhere and everyone. And as for Petey Williams, if he's so worried about his friend, Sonjay, he should keep in mind that the night isn't over yet, and anything and everything can still happen.VIDEO PACKAGE: It spotlights James Storm reminiscing about his time in Beer Money. He says he had felt lost in the shuffle for a while after AMW broke up and Beer Money is what really put him back in the spotlight. But even with how successful Beer Money were, Storm admits that a part of him always felt like he was walking a path he'd already traveled once before. TO BE CONTINUED...
COMMERCIAL BREAK
VIDEO PACKAGE: It spotlights Taiji Ishimori. We see a highlight reel of him in the ring as he gives the audience some general information about himself, how he got into wrestling and what brought him to Pro Wrestling NOAH. He then talks about Eddie Edwards winning the GHC championship. He respects Eddie, but feels that this partnership between their two companies is something that hasn't been fully taken advantage of yet. There are so many potential opportunities for inter-promotional rivalries and that includes all the championships. This brings him to the X-division title, for which he feels that Trevor Lee is a poor representative. He says that the X-division is about a style of wrestling that Trevor Lee chooses not to use, preferring to rely on his cronies and his Cult of Lee to hold onto the title. Ishimori sees this as disrespectful to the championship and the division, and wants to put an end to Trevor's title reign. Just as Eddie Edwards brought the GHC title to America, Ishimori intends to be the man who brings the X-division title to Japan.
As Trevor walks down the ramp, a long line of fans in the front row wearing 'The Cult of Lee' shirts, all hold up a giant banner that reads: "Together, we are Trevor!" The announcers point out how the Cult of Lee's influence seems to be growing.
MATCH 5: X-DIVISION TITLE MATCH
Taiji Ishimori vs Trevor Lee (c)
Highly competitive match. There are many times when it looks like it could go either way. Trevor Lee wins clean, but just barely.
WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: Trevor Lee in 14:11
Post-match, Petey Williams comes out, brandishing a tire iron, demanding that Trevor tell him where Sonjay is or he's sending the entire Cult of Lee to the emergency room.
Laughing, Trevor says that maybe Petey should check backstage again, but warns him that he might not like what he finds.
The camera follows Petey as he runs...
BACKSTAGE: Petey runs up to a crowd of people that has gathered around something. At the center is Sonjay Dutt sitting on the ground. Sonjay seems twitchy and delirious, and doesn't appear to know where he is. Petey asks if he's okay, but Sonjay doesn't respond. He only repeats the same sentence over and over: "Together, we are Trevor... together, we are Trevor... together, we are Trevor..."
COMMERCIAL BREAK
We return to Sonjay as he is examined by the trainers. He's still delirious, still not responding to questions. Petey watches silently, unable to do anything.
We cut to people rushing to get out of the way of Rosemary as she stalks through the backstage area, making guttural noises, not unlike a wild animal right before it strikes its prey. She has found no solution, no answers to her recent troubles; she needs an outlet for her frustrations and she needs it now. Josh says he pities the next person Rosemary gets her hands on. In the background, we can see Allie, observing Rosemary from a distance.
Cut to the interview area where McKenzie is standing by with Sienna. When asked to pick a winner for the Allie/Rosemary match, Sienna once again avoids answering the question. Instead she talks about how much she's enjoying what's happening to Rosemary right now. She has no idea who or what "the Light" is. "Maybe it's Hania, maybe it's Gail Kim, maybe it's me. Or maybe it's all in Rosemary's head. Who knows? Who cares?" And Sienna really doesn't care. What she cares about is that it's made it so Rosemary isn't playing with a full deck anymore. She may be dangerous, but she's not thinking clearly. "Not that she ever was to begin with," she adds. "Her head's not in the game right now and that just makes my job easier. Hell, at the rate she's going, she'll get herself locked in a padded room before this tournament is even over. But maybe if I cross my fingers and wish real hard, she'll put her little bunny bff out of my misery before that happens."
VIDEO PACKAGE: It spotlights the different paths Rosemary and Allie took to get to where they are now and the unlikely friendship that formed between them this year, which now seems uncertain as Rosemary continues to lose her grip and become more volatile due to the things that have happened to her in the last few weeks.
Cut to Allie in the gorilla position, waiting for her music to play and looking completely lost.
ARENA: Sienna joins the announce booth, saying they might be about to witness the first ever murder in a wrestling ring and she wanted a front row seat for it.
MATCH 6: WOMEN'S TITLE TOURNAMENT PRELIMINARY ROUND
Allie vs Rosemary
Allie makes her entrance, but when Rosemary's music plays, she doesn't come out. The music cuts off and the referee tries to get an update from somebody at ringside. When no one seems to know where Rosemary is, the referee has no choice but to start a ten count. Once he reaches the count of ten, the referee calls for the bell and raises Allie's hand.
WINNER: Allie in 0:00
Just as the announcers begin to ponder what's going on, an image appears on the tron, showing us a closeup of a red smear on a backstage wall. The camera follows the trickle of red down the wall to the floor where Rosemary is lying unconscious in a puddle of her own blood.
As Allie jumps out of the ring and races to the back, we cut to...
COMMERCIAL BREAK
BACKSTAGE: Rosemary is being loaded into an ambulance by the medical staff. Allie gets in with her and the ambulance takes off for the hospital.
ARENA: JB and Josh show a replay of the incident and discuss what just happened. Neither of them have any idea who could have done this, but there do seem to be a number of people who had a vested interest in Rosemary NOT going to the finals of this tournament. Josh points out that this latest attack happened at a very opportune time for Allie, who will now be advancing to the next round, whereas Rosemary, who was the initial favorite to win the tournament, has been eliminated.
VIDEO PACKAGE: We're tight on Eli Drake's face being intercut with various footage of him, just like the Johnny Impact video that played at the start of the show. Eli talks about how many years it took him to win the World championship and everything he had to go through to get to it. He says some people have been calling him a fluke champion, claiming that he only has the title because the main event scene zigged when it should have zagged, but week after week, he's proving all of them wrong and will continue to prove them all wrong for a very long time. He then addresses Johnny Impact, saying that once upon a time, whenever some new hotshot flavor of the month from another company waltzed into the IMPACT Zone, management would be so starry-eyed that they'd just hand over the keys to the kingdom, but those days are over. There's only one star in this sky, and its' name is E-Li Drake.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
ARENA: Impact and Drake make their entrances. JB does the introductions for each man in the ring before the bell.
MATCH 7: WORLD TITLE MATCH
Johnny Impact vs Eli Drake (c)
Very even match with lots of near falls. Chris Adonis interferes at times, but Johnny fights through the distractions and keeps going. As it approaches the end, Johnny is closing in on a victory. Eli is down on the mat and Johnny is about to hit Starship Pain when Alberto El Patron appears at ringside and nails him with a steel chair in full view of the referee and shoves him off the turnbuckle to the floor where he hits the ring barrier hard.
WINNER: Johnny Impact via DQ in 14:18
STILL WORLD CHAMPION: Eli Drake
Patron immediately jumps in the ring just as Eli is getting to his feet and blasts Eli with the chair as well.
Grabbing a microphone, Patron yells that he is the rightful World champion, no one ever beat him for the title and no one decides the fate of the title but him -- not Johnny Impact, not the pretender champion and not Jim Cornette, only Alberto El Patron. Patron says that management stole the World title from him and now they think they can give it away to someone else, but if he doesn't have the World title, then he's going to make sure no one else can have it either.
Jim Cornette emerges from the back with a ton of security guards who he orders to restrain Patron. He says the garbage that happened at BFG will not happen again and orders the referee to restart the match.
Both men have taken chair shots, but the fall off the turnbuckle and hitting the ring barrier took a lot out of Johnny. It's enough to make a difference and he doesn't manage to regroup in time. Eli recovers just a little bit faster and hits the Gravy Train to win the match.
WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: Eli Drake in 3:10
Post-match, Jim Cornette says he's sick and tired of all the chaos on this show -- people getting brainwashed, mystery attackers in the dark, main events being disrupted -- this has to stop! He sees now that there's no way they're going to have a definitive finish to a World title match until this matter with Patron is settled, so he's making damn sure it gets settled next week when Alberto El Patron faces Johnny Impact in the Six Sides of Steel!
FADE OUT
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WEEK 4
VIDEO PACKAGE: It recaps the events of last week's show, ending on the announcement of Johnny Impact vs Alberto El Patron in the Six Sides of Steel.
PARKING LOT: The caption reads 'EARLIER TODAY.' We see Impact and Patron arriving at the arena. They both look tense and ready to go to war.
BACKSTAGE: The Cult of Lee are laughing about what they pulled off last week when Jim Cornette walks in on them. Cornette says he doesn't know what the hell they did to Sonjay Dutt, but they must be awful proud of themselves. Cornette had to call in all sorts of specialists to try to get Sonjay deprogrammed and back to normal, but they're telling him that might take a while. So since Sonjay obviously isn't able to beat the living crap out of the Cult of Lee tonight, Cornette went and found two guys who were willing and able. So Konley and Everett better get a move on because Cornette booked the two of them in a match and it starts right now.
ARENA: The wrestlers make their entrances.
MATCH 1: X-DIVISION TAG
Andrew Everett/Caleb Konley (w/ Trevor Lee) vs Dezmond Xavier/Matt Sydal
During the match, the announcers mention how Xavier and Sydal have been talking backstage lately, that they impressed each other during the matches they had in the last two weeks and they've kind of bonded over it. The babyfaces are working together like a well-oiled machine, even doing some double team moves; JB suggests that they would make a good tag team.
With his men on the defensive, Trevor Lee tries to get involved, but is stopped from interfering when Petey Williams runs down the ramp and chases after him. Trevor jumps the crowd barrier and runs into the stands where he's surrounded by
Back in the ring, Xavier and Sydal take Everett down and finish him with stereo dives off the turnbuckle.
WINNERS: Dezmond Xavier/Matt Sydal in 7:12
Post-match, Konley tries to pull Everett out of the ring, but Petey runs back in, grabs Konley and hits the Canadian Destroyer. With Konley out cold, Petey climbs the turnbuckle and stares down Trevor, who watches from behind his mass of followers in the crowd.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
BACKSTAGE: McKenzie Mitchell catches up to Petey and asks him to comment on what just happened. Furious, Petey says that the Cult of Lee turned his friend into a mental patient. Because of them, Sonjay is being fitted for a straight jacket and drooling all over himself right now. Petey doesn't care how many followers Trevor Lee has -- he promises that he will take down the Cult of Lee, destroy them one by one, until there's nothing left but Trevor Lee and that X-division title, and then Petey promises to take that too at the upcoming GENESIS PPV.
We cut to Allie as she enters the women's dressing room where she finds Sienna and Hania. Allie questions both of them about Rosemary's mystery attacker. Hania was in the ring with Rosemary when the first attack happened and Sienna seemed awfully interested in NOT facing Rosemary in the finals of the Women's title tournament, so Allie has reason to think one or both of them were involved in what happened to her friend last week.
Hania is amused. She says she'd never even met Rosemary until two weeks ago, so why would she want to take her out? And if she were the attacker, then why would she take her first shot at Rosemary during that match, thus making herself look like the culprit? "And besides," she adds, "If I was going to attack someone and take them out of the tournament, it would be so I could go to the next round, not you."
There's an awkward pause. Allie has no rebuttal to this, and instead turns her attention to Sienna, pointing out how Sienna was sitting at the announce booth at just the right time last week; could it be that she wanted to be seen there so no one would suspect her when Rosemary was found unconscious backstage?
Sienna just laughs. She's the only woman on the roster with not one, but two pinfall victories over Rosemary. So why would she need to resort to sneak attacks when she knows she can beat Rosemary in the ring? Sienna says that maybe Allie should come back when she has some actual proof that either of them did anything.
Allie still suspects both of them and promises to get to the bottom of this. Hania says that maybe she should forget about Rosemary and focus on her own business, because if Allie manages to win her tournament match tonight, she'll be facing Hania in the semi-finals, "And if I were that mystery attacker, you would have just gotten on my bad side, little girl."
ARENA: Laurel Van Ness saunters through the crowd, playing to the audience. She's still firmly seated on the crazy train, but looks like she's enjoying the ride.
Gail Kim joins the announce booth before the match starts. She says she has a vested interest in making sure this tournament goes smoothly.
MATCH 2: WOMEN'S TITLE TOURNAMENT SECONDARY ROUND
Laurel Van Ness vs Amber Nova
The Hot Mess Express makes short work of Amber, scoring an impressive win with the Unprettier.
WINNER: Laurel Van Ness in 2:09
Post-match, Laurel climbs the turnbuckle and signals to a member of the ring crew who tosses her two of her trusty champagne bottles. She pops the corks and pours the champagne all over herself, trying to drink it like Steve Austin would drink a beer. Only some of it actually gets in her mouth, but she doesn't seem to care.
As this is happening, Gail excuses herself from the announce booth, embarrassed by Laurel's antics.
VIDEO PACKAGE: It spotlights Marafuji. He addresses EC3, saying that while open challenges are admirable, personally, he doesn't really believe in them. He thinks a championship should be something prestigious, something that only the best competitors are allowed to fight for. He respects a champion being willing to defend his title against anyone, but "anyone" means there could be plenty of shows where he's defending against ham 'n eggers who could never get a title shot otherwise, which, in a way, almost cheapens the championship in his opinion. He thinks title shots should be earned and not something a person can get just by answering an open challenge. This is intercut with footage of NOAH holding a multi-man tournament and Marafuji entering.
This would mark the beginning of a true inter-promotional storyline with coordination between the booking departments of both companies. On NOAH's end, they are holding this tournament, with the winner earning a shot at the IMPACT Grand championship.
BACKSTAGE: Laurel Van Ness continues to celebrate, shaking up one of the champagne bottles and spraying McKenzie with it. She drunkenly says that champagne would go great with a little gold.
ARENA: The wrestlers make their entrances.
MATCH 3: FATAL FOURWAY
Eddie Edwards vs Fallah Bahh vs Braxton Sutter vs Laredo Kid
The match barely gets going before Bobby Lashley appears, pulls Eddie out of the ring and slams him into the steel steps. He then hits the ring and spears Braxton and Kid out of their boots. Fallah Bahh puts up a fight briefly, but Lashley overwhelms him, tears the padding off one of the turnbuckles and smashes Bahh's head into it repeatedly until he goes down.
WINNER: No contest in 0:07
With the wrestlers decimated, Lashley jumps out of the ring, causing the ring crew to scatter. He starts destroying the entire ringside area, throwing things, smashing equipment. He is a man possessed.
Jim Cornette comes out with a small army of security guards. The guards try to restrain Lashley, but he is fighting them all off and nothing can stop him. "I told you I'd tear this company down!" he yells at Cornette. This doesn't end until he gets his release. Until then, he promises that no one is safe, so good luck putting on a show when the entire roster is in the ICU.
Cornette says that he honestly would fire Lashley, if only to get him out of Cornette's sight, but that would just be giving him what he wants and he doesn't deserve that. Instead, Lashey needs to learn that he doesn't run this place and Cornette promises to find the biggest, baddest, toughest son of a bitch walking the planet to get in the ring and give Lashley the beating of a...
Cornette is interrupted when EC3 comes out. EC3 says he thought he heard someone calling his name and volunteers to fight Lashley; he even offers to put the Grand championship on the line. Cornette balks at this, insisting that Lashley is being punished, not getting rewarded with a title shot. EC3 reminds Cornette that he is holding an open challenge, which means anyone can have a title shot. He then takes a little dig at Marafuji, saying that he heard open challenges weren't cool anymore, but he's bringing them back, that is, unless MMA badass Lashley is scared of getting his ass whupped by the rich kid.
Cornette has been won over and books Lashley vs EC3 for the Grand championship next week.
BACKSTAGE: We see shots of Johnny Impact and Alberto El Patron preparing for the main event. Patron is limbering up and Johnny is doing chin ups on some backstage equipment.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
We cut to Lashley being removed from the arena by every security guard in the building. He promises to cripple EC3 next week and maybe he'll cripple Jim Cornette after that. They can both share a room with Moose at the hospital, unless they're sent to the morgue instead.
We cut to McKenzie Mitchell interviewing EC3. When she asks why on earth he would want to provoke Lashley, he asks why he wouldn't want to. He's just doing what fighting champions do. He looks directly into the camera as he says this and it's clear that these comments are directed at Eli Drake.
ARENA: JB and Josh discuss what just happened. They agree that EC3 must be insane to want to face Lashley right now. Eli Drake's dressing down of EC3 in Week 1 has obviously lit a fire under him and Marafuji's comments were probably incentive for him to make this challenge too, but even if he feels like he's got something to prove, look at what happened to Moose when he crossed Lashley. They think EC3 should reconsider this since he can't prove anything if Lashley breaks him in half.
VIDEO PACKAGE: It's a replay of Kiera Hogan celebrating with the fans in the crowd after her big win last week and we get post-match comments from her saying that she worked so hard for so long to get here and to finally have it all pay off is like dream come true.
Gail Kim rejoins the announce booth for the next match in the Women's title tournament. JB asks for her thoughts on Allie's accusations of Hania, but Gail is evasive -- she only says they're still trying to figure out who Rosemary's mystery attacker was and that it could be anyone.
Kiera Hogan vs Hania
Hania acts very snide toward Kiera, mocking her for being so happy about her win last week. She's not taking Kiera seriously and this allows Kiera to take her by surprise at first. Kiera controls the first few minutes and is very close to winning the match until Hania once again loses her temper and turns vicious. Hania takes control with several really stiff shots and eventually wins with an armbar.
WINNER: Hania in 6:22
Just like with last week, Hania refuses to release the hold. She's wrenching on Kiera's arm, trying to break it. The referee can't stop her and security has to run in and pull her off. JB says this feels awfully familiar. It should, as it's meant to mirror the Sexy Star/Rosemary incident in AAA.
Gail reprimands Hania as Kiera has her arm examined by the trainers. Hania is very smug as she walks to the back and looks knowingly into the camera, tapping on her arm as if to say, "Yeah, I totally just went there." The announcers wonder if that look was meant for Rosemary or is Hania just messing with Allie?
VIDEO PACKAGE: It shows Texano and Fantasma training together in a AAA ring, working on some double team maneuvers. We then see them boarding a plane together to return to IMPACT. They tell everyone that things aren't going to be like they were before. They've found their purpose and promise not to return to Mexico empty-handed.
BACKSTAGE: Konnan is giving Santana and Ortiz their marching orders for tonight. After what Sami Callihan did to Diamante last week, Konnan doesn't want him walking away from this match. A member of LAX faces Sami after the break.
We cut to Sami, flanked by oVe, heading for the ring.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
Cut to Kiera Hogan having her arm worked on by the medical staff. They think she may have torn some ligaments, which could keep her out of the ring for some time. McKenzie tries to get comments from Kiera, but she's too upset to talk.
Cut to Allie talking to the camera. She says she's more convinced than ever that Hania was behind the attack on Rosemary. She promises to win her match tonight, defeat Hania in the semi-finals next week and go on to become the first IMPACT Women's champion because her friend may be out of the tournament, but DemonBunny will not be stopped.
Gail Kim walks into the frame and asks Allie to leave the investigation of the attacker to her. Acting uncharacteristically brazen, Allie says that it doesn't seem to her that Gail has done much investigating and wonders why that might be. Her tone is accusatory and Gail isn't happy about it.
ARENA: Sami Callihan and oVe make their entrance.
Sami cuts a pre-match promo, but is interrupted by LAX's entrance. LAX stand at ringside, trash-talking Sami and oVe as Sami dares one of them to get in the ring. It's a distraction and Sami doesn't notice when Homicide hits the ring and attacks him from behind.
MATCH 5: SINGLES
Sami Callihan (w/ oVe) vs Homicide (w/ LAX)
A stiff, intense match. Towards the end, the action spills outside. Sami sets up to piledrive Homicide on the steel steps, but Homicide reverses it into a gringo killa attempt, only to be stopped from hitting it when oVe attack him, causing a DQ.
WINNER: Homicide via DQ in 6:58
Post-match, LAX and oVe are fighting all over the ringside area. The action spills into the stands where they eventually brawl out of the arena.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
BACKSTAGE: Security has finally separated everyone. Pissed off that the chaos simply refuses to end, Jim Cornette books oVe vs LAX for the tag team titles in a No DQ Falls Count Anywhere match at GENESIS.
VIDEO PACKAGE: Quick clips of Jimmy Jacobs' arrival at BFG. Jimmy says his presence will be felt next week.
Cut to KC Spinelli, about to make her entrance. She says Allie is looking past her to Hania and the championship. In fact, Allie seems to be focusing on everything except Spinelli right now and she's about to learn what a mistake that was.
ARENA: Spinelli makes her entrance as Gail Kim once again joins the announce booth. Allie comes out wearing her DemonBunny t-shirt.
JB asks Gail about the way Allie talked to her earlier. Gail says that Allie should just worry about Allie. Josh mentions that ever since Rosemary was attacked, Allie seems to be pointing fingers at everyone, not just Hania. Gail has noticed that too; she says Allie had always treated her very respectfully, but this behavior is new for her and Gail doesn't much care for it.
MATCH 6: WOMEN'S TITLE TOURNAMENT SECONDARY ROUND
Allie vs KC Spinelli
Spinelli uses an early cheap shot to take the advantage and controls the majority of the match. Just when it looks like Allie is in real danger of losing, she spits poison mist in Spinelli's face. With Spinelli stunned, Allie hits the Death Allie Driver and gets the pin.
WINNER: Allie in 7:21
We immediately cut to...
BACKSTAGE: McKenzie is standing by with Sienna to get her comments on the final three in the tournament. Her opponent for the championship at GENESIS will either be Allie, Hania or Laurel Van Ness. Sienna says that LVN was her bestie until she lost her mind twice in one year, but now the greatest concern with facing her would be if she stumbled into the ring completely hammered, so Sienna's not worried about her. Hania is a bit of an unknown and she's definitely a crafty one, but Sienna hasn't seen anything from her that she's been impressed by. And as for Allie? Well, Allie may have gotten enough training under her belt to be able to call herself a wrestler, but the only reason she made it to the semi-finals is because of Rosemary's very conveniently timed "accident." Sienna says it won't matter who her opponent is because regardless of who she faces, this story is going to end the same way: with Gail Kim crying bitter tears as she wraps that shiny new title belt around Sienna's waste, anointing her as the new hotness and the new Women's champion.
We quickly cut back to the...
ARENA: Allie is still in the ring. Thrilled about her win, she hugs the referee, then climbs the turnbuckle and waves her DemonBunny shirt like it's a flag.
JB suggests that her spitting the mist was simply a tribute to Rosemary. Gail is surprised by the method Allie used to win the match; she didn't expect Allie to get this far in the tournament. Josh says that with Rosemary eliminated, it's really anyone's game now.
We cut to a secluded area. It might be backstage or it might not be. It's a dark room with the only light coming from a TV on which the show is playing. Rosemary sits on the ground in front of the monitor, rocking back and forth, muttering to herself. The camera is behind her, shooting over her shoulder, so we only see her from the back. [This is just a week after she was savagely attacked backstage, so not seeing her from the front is better as it doesn't require a potentially unconvincing makeup job. Besides, I just think it's creepier if we can't see what she looks like after the beating anyway.]
Rosemary hits pause and the screen freezes on a shot of Allie celebrating her victory. The camera slowly zooms in on Allie's smiling face as Rosemary repeats Abyss' words to her in Week 1. "Seductive, but treacherous... seductive, but treacherous... seductive, but treacherous..."
COMMERCIAL BREAK
ARENA: The ring crew assembles the Six Sides of Steel as JB and Josh get the viewers hyped for the main event.
VIDEO PACKAGE: It spotlights James Storm reminiscing about his time in Fortune. He says he didn't expect to find himself as part of a group again at that point in his career, but it was a great group regardless. Although, it didn't lead to what he was hoping it would lead to. And after Fortune came to an end, that's where he feels like things started to go wrong for him. TO BE CONTINUED...
BACKSTAGE: Eli Drake talks into the camera. He says that to those who were wondering where he's been all night, a good champion knows when to be seen and when not to be seen. He may have let his temper get the better of him a few weeks ago, but the champ is always learning, always evolving, and he's got Johnny and Alberto figured out now. He knows that the best way to beat them is to just back off. Why get in the middle of something he doesn't need to be involved in when he can just stand back and let them kill each other? Tonight, the champ is just going to hang out backstage, toss a cold one back and watch the fireworks. And with any luck, the trainers will be taking two dummies away on stretchers when the night is over.
We cut to shots of Johnny Impact and Alberto El Patron heading for the ring, via split-screen.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
ARENA: Johnny and Alberto make their entrances. JB does separate intros for both men.
MATCH 7: SIX SIDES OF STEEL
Johnny Impact vs Alberto El Patron
An intense, hard-fought match with no shenanigans. It ends with Johnny climbing the cage, but instead of escaping, he dives off, doing his countdown-from-5 finisher onto Patron from the top of the cage and pins him clean.
WINNER: Johnny Impact in 14:39
Post-match, Johnny climbs to the top of the cage again, yelling that he wants Eli Drake and he's not going to stop.
BACKSTAGE: Eli watches this on a monitor, not at all happy with the outcome of the match. He sees that just playing Impact and Patron against each other may not be enough.
FADE OUT
----------
WEEK 5
[We're trying something new with this show where we use extended sequences of clips, pretapes, interviews, etc, to lay out multiple characters' storylines at once and tie them together so they can all be advanced by one match. I just wanted to try a different kind of story-telling device instead of sticking to the way the shows are usually structured.]
COLD OPEN: A camera pans over Laurel Van Ness, Hania, Allie and Sienna all standing side-by-side. JB says tonight the final four will be narrowed down to two, and at Genesis, those two will fight for the honor of becoming the first ever IMPACT Women's champion. The camera passes the four women and stops on a glass display case covered in a sheet. The new championship belt is locked in that case.
VIDEO PACKAGE: It recaps the events of last week.
We transition into a montage of various pretapes and interviews. Not one after the other, but cut together to look like they're all happening simultaneously. They're supposed to seem inter-connected because they're all building to the same thing. We see LAX furious about how oVe have been messing with the family and talk about how maybe it's time to get the whole family back together. We see oVe and Sami Callihan full of bravado about sticking it to LAX again last week, but they agree that it's time that this thing with them and LAX came to an end. We see Petey Williams, frustrated that he hasn't been able to get his hands on Trevor Lee because his Cult keeps getting in the way. We see the Cult of Lee laughing about Petey because he's just one man and one man can't hope to fight the entire Cult. We see Alberto El Patron incredibly smug about ruining Johnny Impact's shot at the world title for a second time. We see Johnny livid that Patron somehow managed to do this to him again.
ARENA: The announcers explain that company management has heard all the wrestlers out and has come up with something that will hopefully please everyone. Tonight there will be a ten-man tag match with huge GENESIS implications, where everyone will have something that they want on the line. The match is oVe, Sami Callihan, Trevor Lee and Alberto El Patron vs LAX, Homicide, Petey Williams and Johnny Impact.
If the babyface team wins, any past members of LAX, basically meaning Hernandez, (he's not actually showing up, we're just teasing that he might) can be added to the team for the tag title match at GENESIS, all Cult of Lee members will be banned from ringside during the X-division title match and Johnny Impact gets another shot at the world title with Alberto El Patron being immediately fired if he interferes.
If the heel team wins, GENESIS will be the last time LAX can challenge for the tag team titles as long as oVe are the champions, Trevor's X title match with Petey becomes a lumberjack match and Patron gets the next World title shot. Management wasn't exactly thrilled about that last stipulation, but it can't be denied that Patron was never actually beaten for the World title and does still have a legitimate claim to it.
The wrestlers make their entrances.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
MATCH 1: TEN-MAN TAG
oVe/Sami Callihan/Trevor Lee/Alberto El Patron vs LAX/Homicide/Petey Williams/Johnny Impact
A fast-paced match with everyone getting time to shine. As the finish approaches, Johnny Impact goes for the hot tag to Petey, but Andrew Everett and Caleb Konley jump out of the crowd and pull him off the ring apron. Johnny is unable to make the tag and this leads to him getting pinned by Patron.
WINNERS: oVe/Sami Callihan/Trevor Lee/Alberto El Patron in 25:31
Post-match, the faces are pissed off and things break down with everyone brawling all over the ringside area. During the chaos, Petey grabs a chair, nails Konley with it, then gets his hands on Everett and hits the Canadian Destroyer on the entrance stage. He looks for Trevor Lee, but Trevor has escaped into the crowd where he is once again flanked on all sides by plants/fans in "The Cult of Lee" shirts.
BACKSTAGE: The focus switches to Homicide and Sami who have brawled to the backstage area where several PAs are packing boxes of merchandise. Homicide grabs a staple gun and puts several staples in Sami before security personnel finally pull him off.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
ARENA: The announcers go over everything that just happened, the implications and various stipulations the heel team earned for their GENESIS matches by virtue of their victory tonight, and show us the aftermath of the match and post-match brawl.
We get another montage of pretapes and interviews like the one at the start of the show featuring everyone reacting to the results of the ten-man tag. Sami and oVe know they've got LAX's number and are confident that this thing between them will be finished after the PPV. LAX say this will never be finished until they get back what's theirs; they have their backs against the wall now, but a cornered animal is the most dangerous kind. The Cult of Lee are thrilled and hint that the lumberjacks in Trevor's title match against Petey will all be members of the Cult. Petey is demoralized -- he knows he can't fight the entire Cult alone -- but he's determined to take the X-division title from Trevor Lee and get justice for what the Cult of Lee did to Sonjay Dutt. Alberto El Patron says that with Johnny Impact out of his way, nothing will stop him from taking his World title back from the imposter champion. Johnny Impact says that this will not stand and that, one way or another, Patron and Eli Drake will be seeing him at GENESIS.
VIDEO PACKAGE: It spotlights James Storm reminiscing about the night he won the World title from Kurt Angle. He calls that night the pinnacle of his career and everything he'd been working for for so long, and it killed him that he got knocked off the mountain top so quickly. It was like just barely grasping the carrot being dangled in front of him for a moment before it was yanked away yet again. Afterward, he just felt lost. He admits he's probably been lost ever since. TO BE CONTINUED...
BACKSTAGE: Fantasma and Texano head for the ring.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
Another montage sequence. It recaps what Fantasma and Texano have been doing since BFG, them feeling like they let everyone down when they lost at the PPV, them putting aside their differences and trying to learn to work together. They say they know where they went wrong last time and it won't be happening again.
Fantasma and Texano's personas have been tweaked slightly. They're still technically heels, but not at the extreme end of the spectrum anymore. They're a bit more humble since their loss to EC3, Storm and Edwards at BFG and are more focused on what they need to do. They're not really anti-American now, so much as pro-Mexico.
ARENA: The wrestlers make their entrances.
MATCH 2: TAG TEAM
Fantasma/Texano vs Veterans of War
This time, Fantasma and Texano have no miscommunications like the ones that troubled them in their match on the Week 1 show. They're on the same page and work together like they really want this win.
WINNERS: Fantasma/Texano in 9:18
Post-match, in the midst of celebrating their win, Fantasma and Texano are caught off-guard when KM and Kongo Kong run down the ramp and attack them from behind. KM takes them down and Kong flattens them with two big splashes off the top rope.
With the AAA guys left lying, KM gets on the mic and tells the audience to welcome their new manager and Jimmy Jacobs comes out. Jimmy cuts a promo about how he knows all about what it's like to feel overlooked, like society has no place for you, and he saw so much of that in these two men. KM constantly undervalued by management, Kong abandoned by LVN for a slug in a singlet -- these men needed a shepherd, someone to ensure that they aren't ignored and abandoned any longer, someone who will make the people stand up and take notice of them, and here he is. Jimmy raises KM and Kong's hands and introduces everyone to the next IMPACT tag team champions, "The Rage of the Fallen."
COMMERCIAL BREAK
BACKSTAGE: Jimmy, KM and Kong boast about what they just did. Jimmy says that there's a #1 contendership match for the tag team titles at GENESIS and you're looking at the first entrants.
Another montage of pretapes, interviews and clips. This one focuses on the Knockouts to hype tonight's semi-final match in the Women's title tournament. It recaps all the storylines that have lead up to this -- Rosemary's mystery attacker, Allie accusing people as she tries to find the culprit, Hania being one of Allie's suspects, Hania trying to deliberately injure people in the early rounds, Laurel Van Ness' bizarre behavior, Sienna's tension with Gail Kim, all of it.
We get comments from everyone as well just like with the other montage packages. Allie says she's been training harder than ever. This is what she's been reaching for since the day she walked into this company and now the title is so close, she can almost taste it. She says she'd do anything to be Women's champion. She's coming for the title AND she's coming for Rosemary's attacker, be it Hania or Sienna or someone else. She won't stop until she finds out who it was.
Hania brushes off all the suspicion surrounding her -- all this started because the attacker first struck at Rosemary during Hania's debut, thus allowing Hania to win that match, but she thinks it's ridiculous that anyone would suspect her because of that. "Was I supposed to NOT make the pin when someone handed it to me gift-wrapped?" she asks. "A win is a win is a win. I don't really care how it happens. Unless you piss me off, then I care about hurting you first. And if it gets me that Women's title, I've got no problem hurting a whole lot of people."
Laurel rambles incoherently. We see her trying on a bunch of crazy outfits, putting on her makeup more messily than if a blind person were applying it and guzzling more champagne. Then she takes a peak under the sheet which is covering the display case with the new championship belt in it and this seems to make her come to her senses slightly. She admits she's had a rough year, but winning that title would make it all worth it.
Sienna gives her thoughts on each of the final three and says she's getting real tired of waiting. She tells the audience to mark the date on their calendars because she'll be making history at GENESIS and the look on Gail Kim's face when she does it will make it even sweeter.
Gail Kim says that there have been a lot of shenanigans during this tournament, with a lot of people thinking they can just act however they want and get away with it, but she's not going to stand for that. They're about to set the course for this division for the next ten years and what happens next is going to be so important.
With the montage package finished, we see Allie, Hania and Laurel doing their final warmups before the semi-final match.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
ARENA: Gail joins the announce booth as the women make their entrances. Allie again comes out wearing her DemonBunny t-shirt. She tries to get the crowd to chant "DemonBunny" and Josh remarks how she's laying this on a little thick.
MATCH 3: WOMEN'S TITLE TOURNAMENT SEMI-FINAL ROUND
Allie vs Hania vs Laurel Van Ness
The finish comes when Allie is on the defensive and Hania is trying to apply an armbar, but Allie stops her by spitting poison mist in her face. Before Allie can pin her, though, Laurel nails Allie from behind, throws her out of the ring and hits the Unprettier on Hania for the victory.
WINNER: Laurel Van Ness in 15:41
COMMERCIAL BREAK
Another storyline/montage sequence. Hania is livid about the finish and yells that she had the match won until Allie spit mist in her face and promises to make Allie pay for costing her a shot at the title. Allie is crushed about not only losing the match, but having still not found Rosemary's attacker. Laurel is thrilled about her victory and says she's going to take a bath in champagne. McKenzie asks Laurel how she feels about facing her former friend Sienna at GENESIS and Laurel's mood quickly darkens. Sienna remarks that her and Laurel may have been friends in the past, but that's not going to stop her from pounding the crazy out of Laurel at GENESIS; she tells Gail to shine her title belt up real nice for her. Gail is asked about her thoughts on the final two in the tournament and she's obviously not pleased about Sienna and Laurel being in these spots, but she tells the viewers that it's going to be a very interesting match at the PPV and to watch out because she's got a few surprises up her sleeve.
VIDEO PACKAGE: It spotlights Rosemary and everything that's happened to her since BFG. We see various clips of things Abyss said to her in Week 1 about "the Light" having terrible intentions toward her and that alliances outside of the Shadow can be treacherous, of Allie saying it's her dream to be Women's champion, of Allie looking afraid to face Rosemary in the title tournament, of Rosemary being attacked by some mystery assailant, of Allie searching for the culprit and accusing numerous people, of the most recent attack leading to Allie advancing in the tournament, of Allie using Rosemary's poison mist to win her match last week and advance to the semi-finals. Everything is cut together to make Allie look suspicious. Rosemary says that she has been confused for weeks, but has finally achieved clarity. She doesn't come right out and say it, but we can see that she believes Allie is the mystery attacker.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
VIDEO PACKAGE: It shows highlights of the NOAH tournament to crown a #1 contender for the Grand championship. We see Marafuji beating several other contenders and advancing to the finals.
In the final storyline montage sequence of the night, we focus on EC3 and recap his open challenge and what made him start it in the first place. He explains that what Eli Drake said to him in Week 1 may have been the first intelligent thing Eli has ever said, and it really got him thinking. He says he needed a little reminder that Carters don't take opportunities, they make them, and that's what he's been doing. Week after week, he's going to continue making the Grand championship THE championship in this company until the World champion knocks on his door and asks EC3 to stop showing him up. And on the day that happens, there will be no question about who the real #1 contender to the World title is. He actually credits Eli Drake for lighting a fire under him, but says that Eli will come to regret doing that.
The focus of the sequence switches to Lashley and it recaps him breaking Moose's arm attacking other wrestlers and how he ended up in this match with EC3. Lashley says that Moose was only the beginning. He's going to break EC3 in half tonight and then do the same to every single person who works for this company until Cornette gives him his release.
BACKSTAGE: We see shots of EC3 and Lashley heading for the ring.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
ARENA: EC3 and Lashley make their entrances.
MATCH 4: GRAND TITLE MATCH
Lashley vs EC3 (c)
Lashley can't seem to put EC3 away by conventional means, so he starts using dirty tactics. When those don't work either, he "accidentally" hits the referee and stuns EC3 with a low blow. Lashley grabs a chair from ringside and is about to cave in EC3's skull with it, but he's stopped when Moose (his arm still in a cast) emerges from the backstage area.
Moose and Lashley stare each other down. This distraction lasts long enough for EC3 to nail a low blow of his own, then hit the One Percenter on Lashley to the steel chair. EC3 drags the groggy referee over and covers Lashley for the pin.
WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: EC3 18:24
EC3 celebrates. Lashley is horrified at what just happened. Moose just watches Lashley intensely.
VIDEO PACKAGE: Eli Drake addresses the camera as it slowly zooms in on him. He sarcastically congratulates Alberto El Patron on becoming the #1 contender, but if he thinks history is about to repeat itself and he's going to become World champion again, then he's not thinking at all. He says Patron's problem is that he's been so caught up in his issues with Johnny Impact and how management stripped him of the title, that he hasn't really considered the man standing in between him and that prize that he's been after. If Patron really knew E-li Drake, he wouldn't be calling him a pretender, wouldn't be calling him the imposter champion and the moment Patron decided to not take E-Li Drake seriously is the moment he lost. But unless Patron is still lost in the sauce when next Thursday comes around, Eli challenges him to meet the champ in the ring on the go-home show, so they can have a conversation face-to-face.
FADE OUT
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WEEK 6
VIDEO PACKAGE: It recaps the events of Week 5.
ARENA: The announcers run down everything booked for tonight, including a face-to-face/contract signing between Eli Drake and Alberto El Patron.
MATCH 1: TAG TEAM
Dezmond Xavier/Matt Sydal/Fantasma/Texano vs Andrew Everett/Caleb Konley/KM/Kongo Kong (w/ Trevor Lee and Jimmy Jacobs)
During the match, the announcers inform us that all four of these teams will be competing in a fatal fourway match at GENESIS to determine the #1 contendership to the tag team titles.
Jimmy Jacobs shouts instructions to his men from ringside and Trevor Lee uses the distraction tactics of his Cult members in the crowd. Their methods are effective and lead to the heel team getting the win when Everett pins Xavier.
WINNERS: Andrew Everett/Caleb Konely/KM/Kongo Kong in 13:29
Post-match, Trevor Lee takes a mic. JB says we'll hear from him after the break.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
Trevor Lee stands in the ring with Everett and Konley, the other participants in the match having returned to the backstage area. He cuts a promo saying the Cult of Lee is what made him the X-division champion, it's why he's going to stay the X-division champion and it's what's going to bring them the tag team championships as well. There is someone who wants to destroy the Cult, wants to destroy everything that he's built, but that person is fighting a battle he can't win because he's just one man, and that man won't just be facing Trevor at GENESIS, he'll be facing... everyone.
Trevor jumps out of the ring and addresses a group of plants/fans standing in the front row all wearing "The Cult of Lee" shirts. He goes down the line of these people, pointing to them one at a time. "He won't just be facing me," he says. "He'll be facing you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and--"
Trevor gets to the end of the line where the last person is covered up with a hoodie. It's Petey Williams! Petey grabs Trevor and begins pummeling him furiously. He gets several good shots in before the plants/fans all pull him off. On Trevor's orders, they restrain Petey so Everett and Konley can beat him into submission. They then get him into position and Trevor hits the Canadian Destroyer on Petey.
Petey is out cold. Trevor gets ready to hit the Destroyer on him a second time when Ishimori runs out with a steel chair to make the save. As the heels back off, Trevor asks Ishimori to tell Petey when he wakes up that the Cult members during their lumberjack match at GENESIS won't be restricted by the crowd barrier, they'll be all around the ring and Petey will have nowhere to go, nowhere to escape and nothing to do except give in and submit to the Cult, just like Sonjay Dutt did.
Ishimori starts yelling at a member of the ring crew who talks into a headset. Josh tells us that it sounds like Ishimori is demanding a match with Trevor Lee right now. The heels realize what's going on, but they just laugh and turn to leave. They're stopped when JB stands up and says he's just been informed through his headset that management has granted Ishimori's request and tells the referee to ring the bell.
MATCH 2: X-DIVISION
Ishimori vs Trevor Lee (c)
The announcers take care to remind us that since Petey is the #1 contender, this match is not for the X-division title, though Ishimori seems too angry to care right now.
Ishimori is winning until Konley and Everett pull Trevor out of the ring. Ishimori dives over the ropes onto all three of them and continues beating on Trevor. He's able to fend off Konley and Everett briefly, but the numbers game quickly becomes too much. All three heels gang up on him and cause a DQ.
WINNER: Ishimori via DQ in 7:05
Post-match, Konley and Everett hold Ishimori down and Trevor performs the Canadian Destroyer on him as well. As the Cult of Lee celebrate their dominance, we cut to...
BACKSTAGE: McKenzie Mitchell interviews Dezmond Xavier and Matt Sydal following their loss. They barely get a word out before Fantasma and Texano jump them, blaming them for their team losing the match. They beat the faces down and leave Xavier and Sydal lying.
We cut to Jimmy Jacobs, KM and Kongo Kong talking to the camera. Jimmy says they've only been together for a matter of weeks and their momentum is building already. Tonight was just a taste of what's in store and he's taking The Rage of the Fallen straight to the tag team championships. Those titles have been monopolized by LAX and oVe for too long, and a change is coming.
Cut to Gail Kim headed for the ring. She has an announcement to make after the...
COMMERCIAL BREAK
VIDEO PACKAGE: It recaps the Women's title tournament and how it came down to Sienna and Laurel Van Ness as the final two.
ARENA: Gail Kim is in the ring. She talks about how important the final match of this tournament will be and likens it to the BFG match that launched the Knockout division ten years ago.
Gail is interrupted when Sienna comes out. Sienna gets in Gail's face and accuses her of making this all about Gail. It wasn't enough that she stole Sienna's title at BFG and then retired with it without even giving her a rematch, but now that she's retired, she just won't go away even though nobody wants her here anymore. But as long as Gail is determined to stick around, Sienna promises to make her watch as Sienna become the inaugural Women's champion and goes on to become a bigger star in this division than Gail ever was.
Laurel Van Ness comes out with a bottle of champagne and two glasses. She says that since they're going to be making history at GENESIS, this calls for a toast. She pours Sienna a glass, but Sienna isn't in the mood.
Sienna says that's the first coherent sentence Laurel has spoken in months. She dresses Laurel down, saying she used to be someone that Sienna could actually stand to be around, but ever since she lost her mind, (twice) she's just become a joke and the fact that she's in this match is the biggest joke of all. She says Laurel should have married Grado because they'd be the perfect couple -- two clowns who only have jobs because management felt like they needed a charity case.
To add insult to injury, Sienna tosses her drink in Laurel's face. But she's outdone when Laurel pulls a James Storm and smashes the (prop) champagne bottle over Sienna's head. Sienna goes down and stays down.
One of the ring crew tosses Laurel another bottle of champagne and she starts guzzling it when Gail puts a stop to her celebration. Before she was interrupted, Gail was about to announce that she'll be the special guest referee for the title match at GENESIS, and she warns Sienna and Laurel to be on their toes because literally everything that just happened in this ring will not be happening at the PPV, or maybe they won't be crowning a new champion after all. We stay on Laurel and Sienna reacting to this news as Gail walks to the back.
BACKSTAGE: McKenzie is standing by to interview Gail Kim when she gets backstage. Gail says her division has been a circus for weeks now, so it was high time somebody put a stop to it and laid down the law, and that's exactly what she plans to do this Sunday. McKenzie asks if Gail was serious about possibly not crowning a new champion after all. Gail is troubled by this question and doesn't really answer it. Instead she says that they have two very interesting options when it comes to who walks out of GENESIS with that title and they should all consider what would be best for this division, just like Gail is.
Cut to Johnny Impact leaving Jim Cornette's office (we don't actually see Cornette as I'm trying to get more points in Realism by not using him). Johnny looks pleased about something.
We cut to shots of Eli Drake and Alberto El Patron, and JB hypes their contract signing later in the show.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
INTERNATIONAL SEGMENT: We see highlights of the final match in the NOAH tournament to crown a #1 contender for the Grand championship and Marafuji winning. This transitions to a press conference where Marafuji discusses what becoming the Grand champion would mean to him and to NOAH. He says this partnership with IMPACT has created the platform to bring the NOAH product to a whole new worldwide audience, and that's just the beginning when you consider the potential of the Global Wrestling Network and he wants to be a big part of that. He wants to take advantage of all the opportunities that come with it, and that brings him to EC3.
Marafuji talks about how his stint in IMPACT over the Summer made him excited about what their two companies could accomplish together, but his experience dealing with EC3 left a bad taste in his mouth. If IMPACT and NOAH are going to grow together, they need their biggest and best stars front and center, but he's not convinced that EC3 fits that bill. Marafuji believes he is the star that EC3 claims to be, he can be the crossover star between their two companies and the only thing missing from that equation is the Grand championship -- a new championship not weighed down by decades of baggage, a new title for a new audience and a new breed of wrestler. Marafuji is impressed with what EC3 has done as the Grand champion recently, but his biggest test is in front of him right now. If EC3 is the champion he claims to be, then Marafuji challenges him to come to Japan for their title match, face him in Pro Wrestling NOAH and prove it.
The camera follows EC3 as he heads for the ring.
ARENA: The wrestlers make their entrances.
MATCH 3: GRAND TITLE FATAL FIVEWAY MATCH
Eddie Edwards vs Fallah Bahh vs Braxton Sutter vs Laredo Kid vs EC3 (c)
The announcers remind us that the four men EC3 is facing here are the four men that Lashley assaulted a few weeks ago, so is this a case of anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-better or is EC3 trying to up his game to prove that Marafuji's taunts aren't getting to him? They admire EC3's guts, but question whether it was the smartest move to put himself in this position where he doesn't even have to be pinned to lose the title.
Despite the odds, EC3 still manages to pull out a victory.
WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: EC3 in 11:38
Post-match, EC3 cuts a promo saying that he knows Marafuji beat a lot people to earn this shot at him and he accepts Marafuji's challenge. He looks forward to kicking Marafuji's ass on the other side of the world while the World champion isn't setting foot outside the IMPACT Zone (a dig at Eli Drake for his words to EC3 in Week 1).
BACKSTAGE: McKenzie talks to Petey Williams, still groggy from the beating he took earlier. Petey says that he can't go to GENESIS and hope to fight the Cult of Lee alone, but luckily for him, he won't be coming alone.
VIDEO PACKAGE: It spotlights James Storm reminiscing about the last several years. He says that after he lost the World title so quickly, it was as if something inside him just broke down and ever since then, things just haven't gone right for him. He failed to regain the World title and everything he tried to get his career back on track after that just didn't work out. He tried being part of a group again, leading his own group (twice) and it didn't work. He even let bygones be bygones and reformed Beer Money with the man who stole the World title from him in the first place, and while that was fun, it ended before too long, leaving Storm right back at square one again. He's felt aimless for a long time now and he isn't sure how it happened, but he knows why.
Storm thinks that when he lost the World title, he lost himself too. But he's trying to find himself again because he's been doing a lot of thinking recently. The concussion he got at Slammiversary that put him out of action for months gave him a lot of time to consider his career, like how long he's been doing this and how he can't do it forever. He doesn't know how long he'll be able to stay in the business, but he knows he's got more miles behind him than in front of him and this got him thinking about the things he still wanted to accomplish before he hangs up his boots. And once he started being honest with himself, there was only one thing on that list. He wants to be the World champion again. He wants to hold that championship just one more time and have that run at the top that's always eluded him. Having it snatched away from him the first time is what knocked him off course and he'll always feel like his career is incomplete if he doesn't get one more shot at that brass ring. TO BE CONTINUED AT GENESIS...
COMMERCIAL BREAK
We do a dual promo exchange type of segment with Sami Callihan and Konnan with both men in different places. Sami is on location in Ohio while Konnan, LAX and Homicide are at the LAX clubhouse and they're talking to each other via split-screen. Sami claims that oVe have surpassed Konnan's team physically, mentally, they know all of Konnan's tricks and Sami's got plenty of his own that are a whole lot worse. LAX like to act like some gang of badass thugs, but Sami thinks they're just a bunch of poseurs. They don't know what real gang warfare is like and now they're going to have to find out the hard way. GENESIS might as well be the end of LAX because after this Sunday they're never going to touch the tag team titles again.
Konnan says Sami talks tough for a cracker who likes to piledrive women with one good leg and attack people from behind, but he won't be able to do that at GENESIS.
Sami counters that he can do whatever he wants. The tag title match is going to be No DQ, so there's nothing stopping him from showing up, cracking a few skulls and finishing what he started at BFG.
Homicide plans to do the same. He thinks "gang warfare" sounds pretty funny coming from a punk with no actual wins under his belt. Sami has no idea what he's done to himself and Homicide promises that LAX are bringing "gangsta" warfare to GENESIS.
Sami laughs. But how do LAX plan to do that when they're all in the hospital?
Suddenly, in the background of the clubhouse, oVe barge in brandishing weapons! They get the jump on Konnan and his team, and destroy all four of them. The Crist brothers beat everyone down, trash the clubhouse and put Homicide through LAX's poker table.
Basically, the point of this segment is to get over that the GENESIS match will pretty much be a 6-man war. Sami and Homicide won't be officially entered in the match, but the NO DQ rules allow them to fight with their respective teams regardless. It's also meant to drive home the point that Sami is really the linchpin that has made oVe so much more dangerous and LAX haven't found an answer to him yet.
ARENA: The Knockouts make their entrances.
MATCH 4: WOMEN
Allie vs Madison Rayne
Allie wrestles the entire match in her DemonBunny t-shirt. She wins after spitting poison mist in Madison's face and hitting the Death Allie Driver.
WINNER: Allie in 6:44
Post-match, as Allie celebrates her victory, Rosemary's music begins to play. Allie is thrilled, but notices something is awry when Rosemary emerges from the back. Rosemary has changed her face paint to a more sinister black design that covers her entire face (this is to illustrate Rosemary's darkening emotional state and also to cover her face so as to better conceal the injuries she's supposed to have).
Rosemary gets a mic and congratulates Allie on doing so well for herself while Rosemary has been... troubled. She's come very far in such a short time. How interesting that it happened while Rosemary was gone... or perhaps BECAUSE Rosemary was gone.
Allie cottons on to where this is going and starts getting anxious.
Rosemary approaches Allie, her body language hostile. She says she's been very confused recently, she had so many riddles in her head and couldn't make sense of them, but two weeks ago, she finally found her answer. She doesn't know why she didn't see it before. Perhaps she'd been too trusting or perhaps she simply didn't want to believe her brother's warnings, but she's seeing clearly now -- the Shadow is welcoming, but the Light is treacherous.
Allie is almost in tears and keeps insisting that she wasn't Rosemary's attacker. Rosemary screams that Allie has been a very bad Bunny and it's time for her to pay in blood.
Suddenly, the arena lights go out. When they come back on, Hania is in the ring with them and Allie is lying on the mat, out cold. Rosemary is shocked for just a moment, then lunges at Hania. Hania is ready for her, though, and nails Rosemary with a shot to the head so she goes down too. Hania shows off a set of brass knuckles that she did the damage with and boasts to the crowd about how she just made fools of DemonBunny as we cut to...
COMMERCIAL BREAK
Back from commercials, Rosemary and Allie are getting to their feet and exchanging words we can't hear. Allie is deeply upset by Rosemary's accusations, but before they have a chance to get into it, a video begins playing on the tron.
The video shows highlights of the Rosemary/Taya Valkyrie feud and transitions into a hype video for the Red Wedding match. At the end, it dissolves to Taya looking into the camera. Taya says that Rosemary's been so preoccupied lately, she seems to have forgotten that the two of them have unfinished business. Rosemary may have dodged a bullet when Taya couldn't make it to BFG, but that only granted her a brief stay of execution. Taya's visa issues will be resolved very shortly and she's glad that Rosemary has such a thirst for blood because Taya plans on spilling her blood by the bucket at GENESIS.
[These comments from Taya would have been filmed on location in America. She wouldn't have to enter the country to record them.]
Rosemary grabs a mic and screams that the Shadow is sick of riddles and tired of mysteries. One way or another, they will all end at GENESIS. And her and the Norse Reaper finally agree on one thing: THERE WILL BE BLOOD!
BACKSTAGE: McKenzie catches up to Hania as she heads for the parking lot. McKenzie asks her why she did this, why she set this all up, why she was attacking Rosemary for weeks. "Wait," Hania laughs. "You think I was Rosemary's little mystery attacker? I never said that." She grins smugly at McKenzie and leaves.
ARENA: JB and Josh discuss what just happened. If Hania were the mystery attacker, why bother denying it now? Maybe she was the person who took Rosemary out and maybe she wasn't, but either way, they agree that she definitely knows more than she's letting on. That video playing when it did was awfully convenient and Josh suggests that maybe Taya was the one behind all this. But JB points out that Taya couldn't have done those attacks herself because she couldn't legally enter the country, so either Hania is lying or this situation is a lot more complicated than anyone thought.
In the ring, the crew sets up a table for the Eli Drake/Alberto El Patron contract signing.
BACKSTAGE: We're outside Patron's dressing room where Johnny Impact has just arrived. Johnny pushes over a heavy shelf so that it blocks the door, trapping Patron inside.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
McKenzie asks Allie how she feels about what just happened with Rosemary nearly turning on her, believing that Allie had been her attacker all along. Allie is upset that her friend would think that of her and doesn't know what to say.
VIDEO PACKAGE: It recaps the Lashley/Moose feud and everything that's lead up to this. Lashley calls Moose a thorn in his side that just refuses to go away. The last time the two of them fought, Lashley broke Moose's arm. How many more of Moose's bones does Lashley have to break before Moose gets it through his head that he can't beat Lashley?
In turn, Moose acknowledges the history of their rivalry. He's had a number of shots at Lashley since he came to IMPACT and he's come close to beating him, but whether it was because of American Top Team or because he just wasn't up to the task, he's never quite gotten the job done. But he's got one more shot at Lashley at GENESIS and he swears to make this one count. This is about Moose proving something to Lashley and more importantly, to himself. He's going to end this thing between them and he's going to do it on his own terms. Even though he'll be fighting with a broken arm, nothing is going to stop Moose this time.
ARENA: Eli Drake makes his entrance.
In the ring, a table has been set up and Eli has the contract for the world title match at GENESIS. Eli cuts a promo on how Alberto El Patron has been so irate about the world championship since he returned, but his ire has been directed at the wrong people. He's been so focused on Johnny Impact and IMPACT management that he couldn't see the real threat standing right in front of him. Patron's ego wouldn't allow him to acknowledge Eli as the rightful champion, so instead, he's gone out of his way to convince himself that Eli is no threat to him at all, which was the worst mistake he could have made. Because while Patron has been bitching about management and trying to beat Johnny Impact in one pissing contest after another, E-li Drake has been carrying this company on his back, so who the real World champion is should be clear by now. But if it isn't, Eli says not to worry, because it will be crystal clear after GENESIS. There's only one thing left to do and that's sign on the dotted line and make this match official, so Eli tells Patron to come on out.
Johnny Impact comes out instead, saying that Patron is going to be a little late, so he thought he'd take this opportunity to have a conversation with Eli instead. Eli laughs Johnny off, saying the two of them are done. Johnny disagrees because while Eli may hold victories over him due to Patron's interference, he's never once beaten Johnny in a fair match, and that's all he's ever wanted. Eli has a them's-the-breaks attitude about this, but Johnny goads him into it, saying that the champion that Eli says he is, the champ who is "carrying the company on his back" wouldn't back down from anything, or maybe Patron was onto something with all that "imposter champion" stuff.
This gets under Eli's skin and he says he might be willing to throw Johnny a few table scraps, since he at least had the balls to show up while Patron sits in the back, but he can forget about the title being on the line. Johnny has had several shots at the title and a chance to win another one and he blew it each time, so why would Eli hand over another one just like that? It would take a real dummy to do something like that and the champ ain't no dummy. Johnny is okay with this; he just wants a piece of Eli and he'll take it any way he can get it. They throw the table out of the ring and hand the contract off to one of the ring crew.
MATCH 5: HEAVYWEIGHT
Johnny Impact vs Eli Drake (c) - Non-title
As soon as the bell rings, Eli charges at Johnny. Johnny catches him with a surprise roll-up and pins him in seconds.
WINNER: Johnny Impact in 0:07
Eli is shocked. He can't believe what just happened.
Johnny immediately grabs the World title match contract. He says that Eli should have looked a little closer at the fine print, because if he had, he might have noticed three dotted lines, not two. Johnny had a little conversation with management earlier today and they all agreed that, in light of the circumstances, it was only fair. So if Johnny could get his hands on that contract by the end of the night, he could add himself to the main event of GENESIS and make it a triple threat.
Johnny signs his name on the contract. But before Eli can react to this, Alberto El Patron's music hits and Patron stalks out, livid at what Johnny has just done.
Patron jumps in the ring, he gets face-to-face with Johnny and they stare each other down. Losing his cool, Eli tries to address both of them, but Patron and Johnny nail him with stereo kicks and he goes down.
Patron is furious, but he doesn't attack Johnny; he knows there's nothing he can do to change the match now. He snatches the contract out of Johnny's hand, signs his name and drops the contract on Eli, who is on the mat, out cold.
As the two challengers stand over the fallen World champion, we cut to...
VIDEO PACKAGE: It hypes the finalized card for GENESIS:
X-DIVISION TITLE - LUMBERJACK MATCH
Petey Williams vs Trevor Lee (c)
INAUGURAL WOMEN'S TITLE - SPECIAL REFEREE: GAIL KIM
Laurel Van Ness vs Sienna
TAG TEAM TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP - FATAL FOURWAY MATCH
Dezmond Xavier/Matt Sydal vs The Cult of Lee vs The Rage of the Fallen (w/ Jimmy Jacobs) vs Fantasma/Texano
"GANGSTA WARFARE" - TAG TEAM TITLES - NO DQ FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE MATCH
LAX (w/ Homicide) vs oVe (c) (w/ Sami Callihan)
GRAND TITLE - TAKES PLACE IN PRO WRESTLING NOAH
Marafuji vs EC3 (c)
"THE RED WEDDING" - FIRST BLOOD MATCH
Taya Valkyrie vs Rosemary
BATTLE ROYAL FOR A WORLD TITLE SHOT
GRUDGE MATCH
Moose vs Lashley
WORLD TITLE - TRIPLE THREAT MATCH
Alberto El Patron vs Johnny Impact vs Eli Drake (c)
FADE OUT
----------
PPV FINALE
PRE-SHOW
VIDEO PACKAGE: It hypes the PPV and all the matches we'll be seeing tonight.
ARENA: The announcers welcome us to the show and run down the card.
TAG TEAM TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP - FATAL FOURWAY MATCH
Dezmond Xavier/Matt Sydal vs The Cult of Lee vs The Rage of the Fallen (w/ Jimmy Jacobs) vs Fantasma/Texano
Trevor Lee remains backstage to prepare for his own title match. Without Trevor with them to run interference, Everett and Conley are off balance. Xavier and Sydal take advantage of this and pull out the victory.
WINNERS AND NEW #1 CONTENDERS TO THE TAG TEAM TITLES: Dezmond Xavier/Matt Sydal in 15:02
BACKSTAGE: McKenzie Mitchell stands by in the interview area with the returning Taya Valkyrie. Taya says she's been sitting at home for six weeks thinking about all the horrible things she's going to do to Rosemary when she finally gets her hands on her and she's tired of waiting. Tonight is Taya's Bound For Glory and she tells the viewers not to blink because they're not going to want to miss a second of what happens next.
McKenzie point blank asks Taya about everything that's been going on with Rosemary recently and if she had anything to do with the mysterious attacks. Taya laughs. If she were going to attack Rosemary, it would be face-to-face, not jumping her in the dark. Besides, she's been stuck in America for the last month and a half due to her visa issues, and if anyone doesn't believe her, they can ask her lawyer. As for who Rosemary's attacker might be, she muses, "I guess we'll all find out together."
GENESIS
VIDEO PACKAGE: It hypes the X-division title match and everything Trevor Lee has been guilty of, including brainwashing Sonjay Dutt and using his Cult members to help him win matches and get the better of Petey Williams at every turn.
ARENA: The X-division title match will be opening the show.
The lumberjacks make their entrance first. Just as Trevor Lee promised, every one of them are wearing 'The Cult of Lee" t-shirts. They are lead to the ring by two men in masks who direct traffic and order the others to surround the ring.
Trevor Lee and Petey Williams make their entrances.
X-DIVISION TITLE - LUMBERJACK MATCH
Petey Williams vs Trevor Lee (c)
Trevor is very smug throughout the match. To show off how loyal his Cultists are, they don't even touch Petey without Trevor's order. He keeps teasing that he can make his Cult members take out Petey any time he wants, but he decides to let Petey twist in the wind for a while before he pulls the trigger.
Finally, when Petey is closing in on a victory, the action spills over the ropes to the outside. Trevor stands on the ramp, facing everyone as the Cultists surround Petey and Trevor gives them the order to tear Petey apart. The Cultists do nothing.
Confused, Trevor gives the order a second time and again the Cultists do not obey. Instead, they turn to face Trevor and the two masked Cultists walk to the head of the group defiantly.
Getting angry now, Trevor yells at them to do as he says, but they don't. Losing his temper, Trevor rips the mask off the first man, revealing Coach Scott D'Amore! Shocked, he rips the mask off the other man, revealing Tyson Dux!
On D'Amore's order, all the lumberjacks tear off their "Cult of Lee" t-shirts, revealing TEAM CANADA shirts underneath.
Trevor is horrified and quickly runs up the ramp, trying to escape. He's stopped when Ishimori emerges from the backstage area, blocking his path. Trevor has nowhere to go.
Dux grabs Trevor and throws him back into the ring. Petey finishes Trevor off and hits the Canadian Destroyer for the win.
WINNER AND NEW X-DIVISION CHAMPION: Petey Williams in 15:03
Post-match, Petey celebrates with the title, climbs the turnbuckle and leads the lumberjacks in a rendition of 'Oh, Canada.'
-----
VIDEO PACKAGE: It recaps Gail Kim's retirement, the Women's title tournament and the confrontation between Sienna and Laurel Van Ness from Week 6. It includes comments from Sienna about how they should have an unbiased referee for this match and management must have it out for her.
BACKSTAGE: McKenzie interviews Gail Kim. She asks Gail what's going through her head as she gets ready to referee the match to crown the inaugural IMPACT Women's champion. It's no secret that Gail has had issues with Sienna and Laurel Van Ness, so what is she planning to do tonight?
Gail isn't sure what to make of this, but she'll have to deal with it later as she has a match to officiate.
ARENA: Gail makes her entrance, followed by Sienna and Laurel.
Pre-match, they make a show of unveiling the new Women's championship belt.
INAUGURAL WOMEN'S TITLE - SPECIAL REFEREE: GAIL KIM
Laurel Van Ness vs Sienna
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Petey Williams vs Trevor Lee (c)
Trevor is very smug throughout the match. To show off how loyal his Cultists are, they don't even touch Petey without Trevor's order. He keeps teasing that he can make his Cult members take out Petey any time he wants, but he decides to let Petey twist in the wind for a while before he pulls the trigger.
Finally, when Petey is closing in on a victory, the action spills over the ropes to the outside. Trevor stands on the ramp, facing everyone as the Cultists surround Petey and Trevor gives them the order to tear Petey apart. The Cultists do nothing.
Confused, Trevor gives the order a second time and again the Cultists do not obey. Instead, they turn to face Trevor and the two masked Cultists walk to the head of the group defiantly.
Getting angry now, Trevor yells at them to do as he says, but they don't. Losing his temper, Trevor rips the mask off the first man, revealing Coach Scott D'Amore! Shocked, he rips the mask off the other man, revealing Tyson Dux!
On D'Amore's order, all the lumberjacks tear off their "Cult of Lee" t-shirts, revealing TEAM CANADA shirts underneath.
Trevor is horrified and quickly runs up the ramp, trying to escape. He's stopped when Ishimori emerges from the backstage area, blocking his path. Trevor has nowhere to go.
Dux grabs Trevor and throws him back into the ring. Petey finishes Trevor off and hits the Canadian Destroyer for the win.
WINNER AND NEW X-DIVISION CHAMPION: Petey Williams in 15:03
Post-match, Petey celebrates with the title, climbs the turnbuckle and leads the lumberjacks in a rendition of 'Oh, Canada.'
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VIDEO PACKAGE: It recaps Gail Kim's retirement, the Women's title tournament and the confrontation between Sienna and Laurel Van Ness from Week 6. It includes comments from Sienna about how they should have an unbiased referee for this match and management must have it out for her.
BACKSTAGE: McKenzie interviews Gail Kim. She asks Gail what's going through her head as she gets ready to referee the match to crown the inaugural IMPACT Women's champion. It's no secret that Gail has had issues with Sienna and Laurel Van Ness, so what is she planning to do tonight?
Gail promises that the fans can count on her to do the right thing tonight and that's all that needs to be said.
Gail is interrupted by a paralegal who comes up to her carrying a manila folder with some forms in it. The paralegal says the paperwork Gail asked for finally came in, but there's something strange about it. She's not sure how this happened, but while these forms landed on her desk just now, they seem to have been filed six weeks ago.
We don't come right out and say it, but the implication here is that the paperwork in question is Taya Valkyrie's work visa. She was never barred from Canada after all. She could have entered the country at any time.
Gail isn't sure what to make of this, but she'll have to deal with it later as she has a match to officiate.
ARENA: Gail makes her entrance, followed by Sienna and Laurel.
Pre-match, they make a show of unveiling the new Women's championship belt.
INAUGURAL WOMEN'S TITLE - SPECIAL REFEREE: GAIL KIM
Laurel Van Ness vs Sienna
Sienna is giving Gail the stink eye throughout the match and warning her not to try anything, but Gail is calling it right down the middle. She doesn't put up with any insolence from Sienna, but she doesn't tolerate Laurel's wackiness either.
As the finish approaches, Laurel has the upper hand. She hits the Unprettier, makes the pin, Gail kneels to make the pin count and... stops at two.
Confused, Laurel asks her what the deal is and Gail slaps her in the face. This distraction allows Sienna to recover and hit the Silencer on Laurel. Sienna is shocked herself, she has no idea what Gail is doing, but when she pins Laurel, Gail makes the three count.
WINNER AND NEW WOMEN'S CHAMPION: Sienna in 14:20
Post-match, Gail grabs a mic. She says there have been a lot of changes in this division recently and a lot of those she wasn't onboard with. She had to watch as the Knockout division she loved so much was rubbed out little by little and replaced with something that left a bad taste in her mouth every time she came to work. Mental patients, backstabbing, disrespect, sideshow antics -- Gail had had enough.
She knew she had to make a choice tonight and when faced with Sienna and whatever kind of head case Laurel has turned into, she realized it wasn't a choice at all. Sienna may get in Gail's face, she may turn her nose up at authority, but Sienna is the only woman in that locker room who is exactly what she appears to be. There's no BS with Sienna; she doesn't act like some unhinged lunatic, put her hands on management, start fires when she's stressed out or pretend to respect Gail only to show her true colors at the slightest provocation. It may have taken Gail a while to see it, but she realizes now that Sienna is exactly what this division needs.
Gail wraps the new title belt around Sienna's waste, raises Sienna's hand and tells the audience to stand up and applaud their new champion.
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VIDEO PACKAGE: It recaps EC3's Grand title open challenge, Marafuji's messages to him and Marafuji winning the tournament in NOAH to earn a title shot.
INTERNATIONAL SEGMENT: EC3 arrives in Japan. We see him arriving at Pro Wrestling NOAH, doing a press conference with Marafuji and preparing for the title match.
NOAH ARENA: The wrestlers make their entrances.
GRAND TITLE - TAKES PLACE IN PRO WRESTLING NOAH
Marafuji vs EC3 (c)
A hard-fought, back and forth match. It looks like it could go either way for a long stretch, but EC3 ultimately pulls out the victory.
WINNER AND STILL GRAND CHAMPION: EC3 in 16:50
Post-match, EC3 and Marafuji shake hands. EC3 says that if Marafuji wants a rematch, he can have one, but this time, he can come to America and have it in IMPACT because a global brand needs a global champion (another dig at Eli Drake, throwing his words to EC3 in Week 1 back at him).
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VIDEO PACKAGE: It recaps the LAX/oVe rivalry as well as the roles Sami Callihan and Homicide have played in the feud since BFG.
ARENA: LAX and oVe make their entrances. Sami and Homicide are out with them. The announcers remind the viewers that this match is NO DQ, so there's nothing stopping either man from interfering in this match.
Marafuji vs EC3 (c)
A hard-fought, back and forth match. It looks like it could go either way for a long stretch, but EC3 ultimately pulls out the victory.
WINNER AND STILL GRAND CHAMPION: EC3 in 16:50
Post-match, EC3 and Marafuji shake hands. EC3 says that if Marafuji wants a rematch, he can have one, but this time, he can come to America and have it in IMPACT because a global brand needs a global champion (another dig at Eli Drake, throwing his words to EC3 in Week 1 back at him).
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VIDEO PACKAGE: It recaps the LAX/oVe rivalry as well as the roles Sami Callihan and Homicide have played in the feud since BFG.
ARENA: LAX and oVe make their entrances. Sami and Homicide are out with them. The announcers remind the viewers that this match is NO DQ, so there's nothing stopping either man from interfering in this match.
"GANGSTA WARFARE" - TAG TEAM TITLES - NO DQ FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE MATCH
LAX (w/ Homicide) vs oVe (c) (w/ Sami Callihan)The fight quickly goes outside the ring. The Crist brothers have the upper hand while Sami and Homicide brawl into the stands. Sami is fighting dirty, but Homicide is hanging in there. They fight to the edge of the stands and Sami is trying to drop Homicide over the side and through a table set up on the floor. Homicide is close to going over when someone grabs Sami from behind. It's Diamante, (on crutches) and she breaks one of her crutches over Sami's head. With Sami stunned, Homicide throws him over the side of the stands and he goes through the table.
With Sami out of the fight, oVe are finally at a disadvantage. They try to keep going, but Santana and Ortiz rally back, hit their finisher and get the win.
WINNERS AND NEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS: LAX in 16:38
Post-match, Santana, Ortiz, Homicide, Diamante and Konnan all celebrate together in the ring as we cut to...
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VIDEO PACKAGE: It recaps the Lashley/Moose rivalry.
When Moose makes his entrance, he stops on the stage and tears the cast off his arm; a symbolic middle finger to Lashley. Lashley may have hurt Moose, but he didn't break him.
GRUDGE MATCH
Moose vs Lashley
Throughout the match, Lashley is attacking Moose's arm and keeps going for submissions, attempting to re-injure it. But in the end, Moose powers through and finally defeats Walking Armageddon with the same clothesline that he flattened Lashley with the night he debuted, bringing Moose full circle.
WINNER: Moose in 17:55
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VIDEO PACKAGE: It recaps the entire Rosemary angle -- Abyss' warning to her about "the Light," her mystery attacker, Allie searching for the culprit, Rosemary thinking Allie was her attacker, Hania laying both of them out, Taya Valkyrie saying the Red Wedding would finally happen at GENESIS.
We also get comments from Hania claiming that she wasn't the one who assaulted Rosemary backstage. She sure as hell relished in pwning DemonBunny in Week 6, but that's because Allie had it coming for costing Hania her shot at the Women's title. Or rather... that's partly why she did it. Hania teases that two weeks ago, after the Week 5 show, her phone rang and the person on the other line had a very interesting proposition for her. Who was it? What does this have to do with DemonBunny? That, she says, people can keep on guessing... but they won't have to guess for much longer.
ARENA: Taya and Rosemary make their entrances. Rosemary is wearing red face paint this time -- a reflection of her mood and to symbolize the blood she intends to spill tonight.
"THE RED WEDDING" - FIRST BLOOD MATCH
Taya Valkyrie vs Rosemary
The announcers call this match under the assumption that Taya must be Rosemary's mystery attacker. If she was legally allowed to enter the country after all, then everything adds up. That's what they believe and that's what Rosemary seems to believe too.
After a stiff, brutal match, Rosemary makes Taya bleed, finally gaining her revenge.
WINNER: Rosemary in 17:11
Post-match, Hania jumps out of the crowd and attacks Rosemary from behind; Taya quickly joins her. Rosemary tries to fight back, but Hania and Taya are working together and overpower her. The heels beat Rosemary down with Taya screaming that she's going to make Rosemary bleed.
Suddenly, Allie emerges from the back with a kendo stick. Allie hits the ring and stands in between Rosemary and the heels. She holds the kendo stick up, ready to attack, but then she turns to face Rosemary. The DemonBunny cohorts share a look and there's a tease that Allie may be about to turn on Rosemary, but then Allie whirls around and attacks the heels. With the odds now even, Allie and Rosemary beat Taya and Hania back and clothesline them out of the ring together.
There's an awkward moment where DemonBunny are alone in the ring together. Rosemary is contrite about believing Allie to be her attacker. Allie accepts this and gives her friend a hug. Rosemary, in turn, pats the Bunny on the head.
Taya grabs a mic and addresses them both. Sarcastically, she says it's sweet that these two BFFs have made up, but they might want to hold off on the celebration for a minute. This thing between Taya and Rosemary isn't over. In fact, it hasn't even started yet because Rosemary still doesn't know the full story.
Taya asks Rosemary if she ever wondered why Taya went after her in the first place, if she ever bothered to ask herself why Taya targeted her on the night she debuted, why Taya set her sights on Rosemary from the very beginning. Because there actually was a reason for that. There's been a reason for all of this.
The reason is that someone wanted Rosemary eliminated. Someone who saw Rosemary and that metaphysical Shadow she's always going on about as an affront to everything they believe in and stand for. That person is who brought Taya in, who got Taya her job with IMPACT, who got Hania in on the fun two weeks ago, (not that Hania needed much convincing) who was responsible for everything that's happened.
And, yes, this person isn't happy about the outcome of the Red Wedding, but that's just a bump in the road because there's going to be a rubber match; Taya wants it and she knows Rosemary wants it too.
Rosemary is very eager for a rubber match and agrees with this.
"But there's just one thing about that," Taya continues. "That rubber match is going to have a few stipulations. And those stipulations are going to be drafted up... by my lawyer."
One final time, the arena lights go out. When they come back on, a huge, hooded figure is in the ring, standing behind Rosemary and Allie. They turn to face him and he levels them both.
Taya and Hania join him in the ring. Taya removes the man's hood to reveal the true culprit, Rosemary's mystery attacker, the author of Rosemary's pain, the man behind The Light... Joseph Park.
Chris Park is still in the Joseph persona here, but he has a crazed look in his eyes. Essentially, what began as me trying to explain away the (let's be honest) ridiculous and utterly nonsensical booking of Rosemary and Abyss at BFG evolved into an angle about how Chris Park was no longer able to reconcile the Light and Dark sides of his psyche, subconsciously deciding that one of them had to go and viewing Rosemary as a threat because she gave the Abyss persona a foothold, something for Abyss to hold onto that he needed to expunge.
The short version is that Chris Park's mind is at war with itself, with the Abyss and Joseph personas battling for dominance. Sometimes one is in the driver's seat, sometimes the other, and sometimes it's a bit of both. Abyss almost attacking Rosemary at BFG was the Joseph persona momentarily asserting control. In Week 1, Abyss tried to warn Rosemary about this and gave her some hints, but the hints were laced with double meanings (Rosemary thought his warning about "alliances outside of the Shadow being seductive but treacherous" was referring to Allie, but it was actually about Joseph's alliance with Taya) and the Joseph persona had too much of a hold over him for Abyss to just come out and tell her what was happening.
Also, I just really liked the idea of these two separate personalities -- one representing light, the other darkness -- and having the light side be the actual evil one.
On Rosemary's end, she was experiencing a similar kind of mental instability, which is meant to explain why she helped Grado for a minute at BFG only to quickly decide to help Abyss instead. The fallout where we examine all of that is frankly beyond the scope of this Booking Challenge, but the upshot is that, after some initial troubles, Rosemary is able to find a balance between her light and dark sides, (at least for now) whereas Abyss/Joseph cannot, which is what causes the conflict between them and what made Chris Park, and thus Joseph Park, believe that Rosemary needed to go.
The announcers freak out; they have no idea what's just happened. As Joseph, Taya and Hania stand over Rosemary and Allie, we fade to...
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VIDEO PACKAGE: It hypes up the battle royal for a world title shot. We get snippets from the participants with each man saying what their game plan is and what it would mean to them to win.
BATTLE ROYAL FOR A WORLD TITLE SHOT
James Storm wrestles like he really wants this and goes on a tear to win the match.
WINNER AND NEW #1 CONTENDER TO THE WORLD TITLE: James Storm in 9:00
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VIDEO PACKAGE: It hypes the Alberto El Patron/Johnny Impact/Eli Drake rivalry.
WORLD TITLE - TRIPLE THREAT MATCH
Alberto El Patron vs Johnny Impact vs Eli Drake (c)
WINNER AND STILL WORLD CHAMPION: Eli Drake in 18:03
Post-match, as Eli celebrates, Longnecks and Rednecks starts playing and James Storm comes out to stand on the stage. As the World champion and the #1 contender stare each other down, we...
FADE OUT
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