TWIW V

By Jeff Knapp

Danhausen is All-Elite !!!

On Sunday, January 23, at The WRLD On GCW at the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC, Nick Gage, and Matt Tremont defeated Mark and Jay Briscoe for the GCW Tag Team Championships.

With Mickie James heading to the WWE Royal Rumble as Impact Knockouts Champion, the WWE has also offered Cassie Lee and Jessie McKay, formerly known as Peyton Royce and Billie Kay, the chance to compete in the 2022 Women’s Royal Rumble, which they declined the offer.

IMPACT Wrestling is teaming with Dory Funk Jr. and B. Brian Blair of Fingertip Productions and Diamond Dallas Page for a new unscripted series called Pro Wrestling Challenge.
According to a press release, IMPACT Wrestling, Dory Funk Jr., B. Brian Blair and Diamond Dallas Page have teamed with executive producer Joel Eisenberg for a new show that “focuses on the real-life sacrifices and dreams of a group of pro wrestling students presently enrolled in wrestling schools around the country.” Compared to the Oscar-nominated documentary Hoop Dreams, Pro Wrestling Challenge will present a “stark, truthful portrayal of pro-wrestling stars.”
Unlike other competition-based reality shows, the contestants will not share living quarters. They will remain in their own homes. “Some are homeless,” adds Blair. “They have literally given everything for their dreams.”

It appears that former WWE Champion Big. E is now on Smackdown.

WWE – RAW – Go Home Show For The Royal Rumble

The show starts with the weigh-ins for Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley for their WWE Title match at the Royal Rumble.

Bianca Belair vs. Queen Zelina – Belair connects with the KOD for the pinfall victory

WWE United States Championship: Damian Priest (C) vs. Kevin Owens – Owens wins via DQ when Priest refuses to break it up in the corner after the count of 5

Tamina, Carmella & Nikki A.S.H. vs. Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan & Dana Brooke – Rhea Ripley gets Carmella to tap out to her standing figure 4 submission.

Alpha Academy Academic Challenge for RK-Bro, which is a spelling bee. Orton misspells Dumbell on purpose.

Randy Orton vs. Chad Gable – Randy Orton his Gable with an RKO out of …..you guessed it, nowhere

Alexa Bliss is back in therapy and talks about how she met Lili

Austin Theory is backstage with Mr. McMahon, who wants another selfie from Theory

AJ Styles vs. Austin Theory – AJ connects with the Phenomenal Forearm for the 1-2-3

Rey Mysterio hypes up the WWE 2K22 game coming out on March 22, 2022

The Street Profits vs. The Mysterios – Rey connects with the 619 and pinfall

Miz’s “Must-See Birthday Extravaganza” For Maryse, which is crashed by Edge & Beth Phoenix, ends the show.

NXT

Dusty Classic, Round One Match: MSK vs. Jacket Time – Carter with a knee strike to Kushida. Carter and Lee attempt their MSK double-team finisher, but Kushida gets the knees up. Kushida picks the arm, and Carter senses what’s coming. Kushida looks for his trademark submission, but Carter’s fighting it! With quick assistance from Lee, Carter picks up the tight win! Next week they’ll face Edris Enofé & Malik Blade.

Falls Count Anywhere Match: Solo Sikora vs. Boa – Solo hits the Uso Splash through a table for the pinfall victory.

Duke Hudson vs. Guru Rhaaj – squash match – Hudson nails Guru with a razor’s edge for the 1-2-3

Six-Woman Tag Match: Toxic Attraction vs. Kay Lee Ray and Indi Hartwell & Persia Pirotta – Dolin attempts an inside cradle, but Pirotta hits Gigi with a running boot then connects with a modified facebuster slam for the victory

Dusty Classic Round One Match: Chase University vs. the Grizzled Young Veterans – GYV hit a double codebreaker on Hayward for the win. With that, they will face the Creed Brothers in the next round.

Io Shirai vs. Tiffany Stratton – Io connects with her top rope moonsault for the 1-2-3

OllieJayy performs her new single, “Make Them Fall.”

Main Event: North American Number One Contenders Main Event Match: Tony D’Angelo vs. Cameron Grimes – Grimes hits his Cave In finisher for the pinfall after interference from Pete Dunne

Bron Breaker is shown leaving the arena, but LDF drives up and threaten him Tommaso Ciampa walks up and says he’s got the champ’s back as we now have a huge tag team main event match next week on NXT

AEW – DYNAMITE

TNT Championship Unification Ladder Match: Sammy Guevara vs. Cody Rhodes – In the end, the two begin trading shots on opposite sides of the ladder. Sammy hits Cody with one of the hanging belts, knocking him down to the mat below. He then unhooks both TNT Championship belts to win the match and become the Undisputed TNT Champion.

Handicap Match: Wardlow vs. Elijah Dean & James Alexander – We immediately see Wardlow nearly take the heads off of Dean and Alexander with a big clothesline. He then begins the powerbomb symphony on Dean then again to Alexander for the easy 1-2-3

Chris Jericho, Santana & Ortiz vs. Daniel Garcia & Team 2point0 – Jericho connects with a Judas Effect that sets up the pinfall victory for Santana & Ortiz. He leaves without them and yells something at them from the entrance aisle. There is some trouble within The Inner Circle.

Promo announcing that in 2 weeks Hangman Page & Lance Archer will fight in a Texas Death Match

MJF & Punk have more war of words, but The rest of the Pinnacle takes out Punk

Jade Cargill announces that Julia Hart will be her next opponent for her TBS Women’s Championship.

“Legit” Leyla Hirsch vs. Red Velvet – Hirsch get the 1-2-3

Unsanctioned Lights Out Match: Adam Cole vs. Orange Cassidy – They go all over the place, including backstage. In the end, with OC down, Cole makes his way to the top of the rafters by the entrance area and does a big pose once up there; however, the camera shot and his viewpoint are both such that no one realizes that Cassidy isn’t down below any longer but right behind him. Cassidy grabs hold of Cole and makes the big leap. The two crash down through some tables and production equipment below. He puts an arm over him and gets the three-count.

IMPACT

Chris Bey vs. Jake Something – Jake plants Chris with a spin-out powerbomb for the 1-2-3

The Guerillas of Destiny come out and attack Jake Something. “Speedball” Mike Bailey tries to make the save, but Jay White comes out and beats him down too.

G.O.D. Inform The Good Brothers that they are here and want the IMPACT World Tag-Team Championships. They claim that IMPACT is their house now.

Honor No More vs. IMPACT 5-On-5 Match Set for No Surrender by Scott D’Amore. It will be Chris Sabin, Eddie Edwards, Rich Swann, Rhino & Josh Alexander vs. Matt Taven, Mike Bennett, PCO, Vincent, and Maria Kanellis?? We’ll see if a 5th guy will be added. If the ROH alum wins, then they all get Impact contracts. If they lose, then they are out of there.

The Influence vs. The Inspiration – Cassie Lee connects with a code red like move on Kaleb for the pinfall

Gail Kim sets up an eight-Man Tag-Team match for next week. It will be “Speedball” Mike Bailey, Jake Something, Ace Austin, and Madman Fulton vs. Chris Bey, Jay White, and The Guerillas of Destiny.

9-on-1 Handicap Match: W. Morrissey vs. The Learning Tree – Morrissey dominated the entire Match against these “wrestlers.” I’m sorry, this was straight-up garbage—these guys were horrible to even look at.

Johnny Swinger vs. JONAH – JONAH lands a huge body breaking splash on Swinger for the easy 1-2-3.

PCO vs. Chris Sabin – The finish saw Maria distract the ref, allowing Mike Bennett to shove Sabin off the top. PCO is hitting the Electric Chair Drop for the pinfall victory.

WWE – SMACKDOWN

SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair starts off the show in the ring by cutting a promo about how great she is and what to look forward to at the Royal Rumble. She is then interrupted by Shayna Baszler, Aliyah, Natalya, and Shotzi Blackheart. Flair insults them until Sasha Banks comes out and all hell breaks loose. Leading to Sasha throwing Charlotte over the top rope.

Sheamus & Ridge Holland vs. Cesaro & Ricochet – Cesaro misses a blind tag from Sheamus to Holland, allowing Holland to end the match with a headbutt–wearing his protective mask–and pinning Cesaro.

Naomi vs. Sonya Deville – Naomi hits the Rearview on Deville, follows it up with a split-legged springboard moonsault, and covers for the three!

After the match, Sonya Deville announces that she’s entering the Royal Rumble tomorrow to get revenge on Naomi.

Jinder Mahal & Shanky vs. Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura & Rick Boogs – Boogs ends the match with his new finisher, the Boogs Clues–a power slam.

Main Event: The New Day vs. Madcap Moss & Happy Corbin – Big E takes the blind tag. Big E and Kofi work together to hit the Midnight Hour and pick up the win.

Seth Rollins Confronts Universal Champion Roman Reigns gets under Roman’s skin in the ring. Rollins insults Roman’s entire family, calling his cousins, siblings, parents–the whole bloodline–a joke. Reigns smack the mic free, and the two have words off-mic. Reigns attempt a Superman Punch, but Rollins has him scouted and ducks under, escaping up the ramp.

AEW – Rampage

Jon Moxley vs. Anthony Bowens – Mox connects with his finisher for the 1-2-3. 

We see Bryan Danielson watching backstage and taking an interest in Mox.

FTR vs. Lee Johnson & Brock Anderson – Arn Anderson attack Tully Blanchard at ringside as he tries to get involved. Still, FTR connects with a spiked pile driver double-team finisher for the pinfall victory. 

TBS Women’s Championship: Julia Hart vs. Jade Cargill (C ) – Jade hoists her up and hits her Jaded finisher for the pinfall victory.

AEW Tag-Team Championship: Private Party vs. Jurassic Express ( C ) – Private Party looks for the Gin ‘N’ Juice finisher, but Jungle Boy counters with a Canadian Destroyer. Luchasaurus hits the ring, and they hit the Jurassic Express finisher for the pinfall victory to retain the titles. 

After the match, The Gunn Club attacked the J.E., leaving them beaten in the ring.