[Recap] Impact Wrestling's Thursday Night Event (4/8)

Written by Shining Polaris

Impact Wrestling had their first Thursday show on April 8th. This was also the take home show before their mini PPV, Hardcore Justice, on Saturday April 10^th, which will air 3:00PM ET, before Wrestlemania. This episode gave us a small preview of what Hardcore Justice will offer and set up the rest of the card for the show. Tommy Dreamer, who is a legend in the hardcore wrestling scene, had the task of setting up matches for Hardcore Justice.

* WARNING: This article contains spoilers for the
Impact Wrestling show from April 8th, 2021*

Matt Cardona had his match against Jake Something. The match had no winners since Brian Myers interfered to beat both of them. He threw Jake face first onto the steel steps, damaging his eye. Cardona and Myers are longtime friends and podcast partners, however Myers felt that Cardona was copying and following him by joining Impact. Myers walked up to Tommy Dreamer and bragged that he could be the next “innovator of violence,” and Dreamer shot that idea down. Tommy doesn’t like how Myers has been in a bad mood lately and making everyone angry, so he let him know that Jake Something wanted a match with him. Myers reminded Dreamer that he already had a match at Rebellion against Matt and Dreamer said it was for Hardcore Justice. To make it a special match, he made it a “blindfold” match, as Myers had injured Jake’s eye, causing him to wear an eyepatch. Myers screamed that the match was stupid and walked off.

James Storm and his friends Chris Sabin and Chris Harris were gambling at Swinger’s Palace. James left Harris at the casino and accompanied Sabin for his match against Deaner from VBD. Deaner had been brainwashed by VBD’s leader, Eric Young, that he had been losing too many matches and had to prove his worth to the group. Chris Sabin is a veteran and staple of Impact/TNA wrestling so it took no time for him to pin Deaner for the win. Sabin and Storm were celebrating when Eric Young appeared on-screen and told them it was a trap. Eric was upset that he lost to Storm on Storm’s 1000^th match so, in revenge, VBD had taken Harris from the casino and were beating him up. As Storm and Sabin watched in horror, Rhyno, VBD’s newest member, attacked them from behind and Deaner finished the job by choking Sabin. Eric shouted “his blood is on your hands” and the screen turned black.

The next scene has Eric Young in Tommy Dreamer’s office. Dreamer doesn’t like what Eric was doing to the roster. He was by running amok with VBD beating everyone up and telling them that they were “sick with the disease.” Young responded by telling Dreamer that he was the sickest of them all. They were staring each other down when Dreamer announced they would have a match at Hardcore Justice. Eric can bring his team and Dreamer will bring his friends.

Josh Alexander and TJP are still upset they lost to Ace Austin, the current X-Division Champion. Tommy Dreamer let them know they can settle their differences at Hardcore Justice in a 3-way Tag Team match. Josh and TJP can pick whichever tag team partner they want for this match.

The main event was a 6-Man Tag Team match, the first match Rich Swann had as the unified Impact World Champion. It was Rich Swann and his two friends, Willie Mack and Eddie Edwards, versus Kenny Omega and the Good Brothers. Don Callis accompanied his team and stood ringside with them. During this match, Impact’s commentary team stated how different these two team were – Rich Swann’s team are fighting for Impact’s honor and have heart while Kenny’s team, though they are great wrestlers, are arrogant and all about representing their Japanese brand. They mentioned that Rich Swann had been planning a counter for the One Winged Angel and wondered whether he will do it in this match. Kenny Omega set Swann for the One Winged Angel and Swann slipped out and kicked Kenny down. Rich ran up the turnbuckle to his 450 Splash, hit Omega and pinned him. Swann would have won the match, but Don Callis grabbed Swann’s leg causing Karl Anderson to tag himself in to save Kenny. Swann and Edwards attacked Anderson and it wasn’t long before Swann did his Phoenix Splash onto Anderson pinning him for the win. Kenny was surprised they lost. He picked Anderson up and trash-talked Swann as they walked to the back. Swann held both of his titles high before the show ended.

Other Events that happened during Impact

In the 6–woman tag match, Rosemary won.
Segment teasing their newest woman wrestler to the roster – “Let’s Get Wilde.”
Jazz segment about her wrestling history. She will face Deonna Purrazzo. If Jazz loses, she will retire from wrestling.
XXXL vs Trey Miguel/Sami Callihan – Trey made XXXL tap out for the win and left Sami alone without celebrating.

Hardcore Justice Card

3-Way Tag Team Match: Ace Austin/Madman Fulton Vs. TJP/Partner Vs. Josh Alexander/Partner
Knockouts Weapons Match (Winner becomes #1 contender for the championship): Jordynne Grace/Susan/Tanille Dashwood/Jessica Havoc/Rosemary/Alisha Edwards
Shera Vs. Hernandez
Doc Gallows Vs. Black Taurus
Knockouts Title Match: Deonna Purrazzo Vs Jazz
Main Event – Hardcore War: VBD Vs. Tommy Dreamer and Friends (He will announce his partners on Twitter on Friday April 9)

Impact Wrestling