The effect is to feel the flavor of NJPW, specifically the Super Junior Tag League. Two championship teams are on a collision course in the Zone of Impact. Kushida and Kevin Knight are excited to get back at Bullet Club’s Chris Bay and Ace Austin in their rematch. The match was announced next week after the two teams were on Thursday night’s episode of Impact wrestling.

The Bullet Club has battled with key players. Ace and Bey clicked with great teamwork routines.

Matt Cardona and Brian Myers managed to control the pace by isolating Ace. Hot sign for eBay changed that. The Major Players rebounded to a running shoe from Cardona and a flying elbow drop from Myers, but Bey came out on the cover. Bay survived a fireman’s hold to push Cardona into Myers onto the turnbuckles. Ice pounced on the superheadscissor, sending Myers falling out of the ring. The Bullet Club team’s teamwork put a hard pin on Cardona for the win. It wasn’t smart to implement, but it got the job done.

Kushida and Knight’s hands were full of the kind hands of John Skylar and Jason Hotch. Knight turned the tide with an electric chair that’s great for teamwork. He went off to get a slingshot on Skyler, then Kushida finished off a Kimura on Hotch.

Later in the broadcast, Impact announced Bey & Ace versus Kushida & Knight for the next week. These two teams were in the NJPW Super Junior Tag League. Bullet Club advanced to the final of that tournament finishing as runners-up, defeating Kushida & Knight along the way. Kushida and Knight finished at the top of the rankings. This would be a great opportunity for Kushida & Knight to turn their fortunes around.

In another work of Impact wrestling:

• X-Division Championship: Trey Miguel retained against Mike Jackson. The 73-year-old challenger had some moments to excite the crowd, but Trey eventually pummeled him for the win via Lightning Spiral. (Full details here.) Next, Trey reached under the ring to retrieve a can of spray paint. Crazy Steve came out of the humble home of Hornswoggle. Steve painted himself in the Trey logo as mind games. Trey panicked and ran to safety.

• Josh Alexander is a fighting champion and is ready to defend his Impact World Championship against whoever wins the Golden Six Shooter Challenge. Enter Steve McClain tweeting about beating all the previous champs in that match, yet not being rewarded with a title opportunity. McClain warned Alexander by watching his eyes.

• Mickie James thanked Jordyn Grace for bringing out the best in her Hard to kill, then blasted Grace for helping her last week when she was hit with numbers. Grace explained that she is protective of her investment. She has a rematch and wants to make sure James is fit to compete.

• Knockouts Tag Team Championship: Taya Valkyr and Jessica retained against Gisele Shaw and Tara. Santino Marella revealed that Tara (aka Victoria in WWE) has his partner chosen for Shaw. The Quintessential singer wasn’t thrilled to share the spotlight, so she refused to tag in Tara. Disrespect eventually crossed the line, slamming Tara Shaw with a widow’s peak. Jessicka executed a piledriver for the win. (Full details here.)

• Taylor Wilde was a magician to ask the spirits for more fights with Killer Kelly.

• Bully Ray heartily bullied Santino about being disqualified from the Golden Six Shooter match. After Bully’s exit, Dave LaGreca suggested that Tommy Dreamer was the only guy who could handle Bully’s situation.

• It looks like Tasha Stiles is pulling the plug on her tag team partnership with Savannah Evans. Things haven’t been going with a lot of losses lately, so I went out on my own.

• Joe Hendry wrote a song referring to Matt Cardona as Edge’s prostitute. (Full details here.) Later, Cardona confirmed to Moss that key players would deal with Hendry.

• Jonathan Grisham defeated Sheldon Gunn. Jean laughed at the size difference, so Gresham folded it into a biscuit. Grisham went low to overextend the knee, then hit Jean’s head with an elbow to win.

• The contender’s match for the Golden Six Shooter was won by Rich Swann. The order of elimination was Rhino, Eddie Edwards, Chris Sabin, Moose, Callihan, and Swann as the winner. Of note, PCO caused Edwards to become distracted. In the end, Swann tackled a piledriver by Callihan to rally for the 450 points win. Swan will wrestle Josh Alexander for the World Championship at Impact no giving up On February 24 (Full details here.) Subsequently, Swann stomped the design and ordered Callihan to finish it. Yuya Uemura, Alexander and Frankie Kazarian made the saves to make up an 8-man tag team for the next week.

This presentation was again in the form of quality impact content. The main event had meaning and drama to determine the number one contender. Rich Swan is a win-win option. That first match will be against Josh Alexander. Chris Sabin could have been an equally good choice, but there’s no urgency since he’s holding the tag team gold at the moment. Alexander has already beaten Moss and Eddie Edwards in recent memory. Callihan’s win would have made his journey with design very easy, and he needed a hitch of failure to keep this story going.

Speaking of the design, I don’t like how completely Deaner rushed through the 7-step initiation process. Last week was the third move, and now he was eager to let Callihan finish so quickly? it does not make sense. It also didn’t make sense for Callihan to have reservations about riding Swan’s horse. If Callihan was on his own, he would have no problem beating Swann in a standard #1 contender’s match. Deaner didn’t ask for anything out of the ordinary. I can understand if Diner asked Callihan to hit Swan.

The X-Division title match was a neat show for Mike Jackson. Tre Miguel was never in danger of losing the belt, and that’s how it should have been. The reveal of Tara as the mystery partner was great, and Impact played a good comedic interaction with Giselle Shaw. The reactions from Taya Valkyrie and Jessicka are the kind of little things to fill the screen that make the scene more enjoyable overall.

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