Wrestleview reader Andrew Elder attended Night 1 of IMPACT Wrestling’s Mid-South Mayhem television tapings on Friday at Graceland in Memphis, TN.
Below is Andrew’s very detailed report of the tapings (Thank you Andrew).
Taping for the Before The IMPACT took place first. Gia Miller, Tom Hannifan and Jennifer Chung are the ring announcers for this part. Also later she does in between hype and promotions like throwing out t-shirts and other items to the crowd.
Matches taped for BTI (Before The IMPACT)
-Sami Callihan and Rich Swan defeated the Laredo Kid and Black Taurus
-Savannah Evans with Jai Vidal defeated Jessika with Courtney Rush
Rhino defeated Jack Price. After the match, Steve Maclin came in from Ringside and jumped Rhino who was able to hold him off.
Impact tapings for Night 1 of Mid-South Mayhem (not sure what matches will appear on what nights on TV as some matches/segments looked like lead-ins to Bound For Glory) – David Penzer joins as Ring announcer along with Matthew Rehwoldt.
-Speedball Mike Bailey defeated Samuray Del Sol. This match was great. The crowd was into both guys – very fun match. Huge fan of both. Probably the match of the night.
-X Division Title Match: Chris Sabin defeated Ultimate X winner Alan Angels. Another good match. Music hits after the match and we see a video package that Kenta is coming to Bound For Glory. Sabin shakes his head at the announcement
-Tasha Steelz defeated Killer Kelly with Masha Slamovich with help from Deonna Purazzo who pulled the ref out and caused a distraction that lead to a Tasha Victory
-Segment with Joya. Joe Hendry says the sad news is that Yuya got the fired briefcase and Joya is no more. He starts praising Yuya and gets fans to thank Yuya. The Impact World Tag Champs Rascalz come down to interrupt and run them down. Joe Hendry says it’s something to be insulted by the 2nd and 3rd Best Rascalz (Wes Lee reference). They brawl, but Rascalz start to leave and Santino Marella comes out and makes an impromptu match that if Joya can beat Rasclaz, Yuya can stay in Impact.
-Rascalz beat Joya-Yuya and he is still fired. Joe Hendry talks about how Yuya will be a future world champ. He also talked about how with the crowds support that wrestlers get to make a living and travel the world. Gets another Thank You Yuya chant going. Yuya thanks the crowd and says he will come back as a champ and Joya dances one last time.
-Memphis Street Fight: Tommy Dreamer and Heath defeated Kenny King and Sheldon Jean- Heath chased Kenny to the back and Dreamer gets the win. I believe it was Crazzy Steve without the paint with the briefcase who attacked Tommy Dreamer and left him laying in the ring
-Special 10 person Mixed Tag Match: Jordan Grace, Eric Young, Jake Something, Dirty Dango and Champagne Sing defeated Bully Ray, Kilyn King, Shera, Brian Myers, Jody Threat-Forgot the guys and gals could wrestle each other. This was pretty fun, but bizarre match that seems folks were just thrown together for the tags. King and Threat didn’t get along at one point and King threw Threat out. Cluster with Jake getting the pin on Shera.
-Knockouts Non-Title Match: Trinity defeated Giselle Shaw with Jai Vidal and Savannah Evans. After the match they gang up on Trinity, but Mickie James makes the save. Mickie tells Trinity while she was sidelined she was happy to see her friend and come and shine and win the belt, but she challenges Trinity for the Impact Women’s title.
-Moose with Brian Myers beats Bhupinder Gujjar in squash. Steve Maclin came out saying the brief case for the Impact World Title is his. Meyers asks where’s Bully Ray is and Maclin says he’s soft and running from PCO and he beat PCO. That causes the lights to go out and PCO’s music and video hit. PCO sprints to the ring. Him and Maclin handle both Moose and Meyers. Scary part is Myers was thrown to PCO by Maclin and PCO junked Myers on top to the thin padding and heard Meyers hit with a thud. He looked winded for a few moments as he slowly made his way up. PCO caused Maclin to leave the ring. Maclin on the ramp got Gored by Rhino. Moose came up after and held and taunted Maclin with the Briefcase
-Country Ass Whoopin 20 Fan Lumberjack Strap match: ABC beat John Skyler and Jai Vidal (dude was wearing a country outfit). The fans that were chosen were given belt straps, and boy did John Skyler get the most of it. He ended up taking off his belt and threatening the fans which ended up leading to the finish and ABC winning.
-Special Segment: Tommy Dreamer calls out Crazzy Steve. Steve in facepaint and briefcase comes out. Tommy talks about his dad going blind and how Steve is blind and can only sees shadows and uses hearing. He talks about being friends which gets some boos from the crowd. Tommy says we’re going to boo friendship now. Talks about how he helped Steve out and he knows he attacked with the briefcase and he wants a shot at the Digital Media Championship, but if he wanted it all he had to do is ask. They hug each other, while hugging Steve pulls out a switchblade knife (prop) and stabs Tommy in the back. Medical personal and officials hit the ring and chase Steve off, who is yelling something while leaving. Tommy is helped to the back.
Main Event: Josh Alexander defeated Kon with Deaner. World Champ Alex Shelley was on commentary. Ref bump and Deaner tried to hit Josh on the outside with chair. Shelley tried to make the save, but Josh accidentally hits Shelley. After the match Shelly confronts Josh and Shelley ends up knocking out Josh. Shelley Holds up the World Title to end Night 1 of Tapings
Notes: pretty good crowd with about 400-500 people with setup which was chairs. (Graceland Soundstage can seat up to 1,500). Seating was messed up. We bought tickets that said bleachers, but they have no bleachers so staff was scrambling to find seats for everyone that didn’t have a higher ticket seat. We initially were put in one area near the entrance ramp, but due to a medical condition I have, I need to be not in cramp area. We were able to be moved to the over side of the ramp to outside seats. Probably lot of folks ended up in higher priced seats. Also the original meet and greet didn’t happen before the show for the fans that bought $150 seats, as it was going to happen after for everyone who stayed.
Deaner, Myers and Dango all got You suck chants – Don’t think they were prepared for that reaction. Also reactions for others didn’t get much boos as even majority of heels were over. Giselle got a Whoop That Trick chant.
They gave out glow sticks before the Trinity match and told folks to snap and get them glowing. Mentioned loudest fan that they choose would get VIP treatment (that didn’t happen).
Overall it was a good night even with the seating problems. Also some matches that were advertised had been changed (think some folks weren’t able to make it to Memphis possibly). Not sure what matches will air when along with action that happens on Night 2 because after some matches a video popped up for Bound for Glory this Sunday.
Looking forward to Night 2