Texasrangers13

Hammerstone vs. Styles is one that I would personally thoroughly enjoy. Fun show. Briscoes vs. SCU is a fun one too.

Cobb is a solid fit and one of my favs. His one off appearance in February was perfect. Thunder Rosa is a great add for a women’s division that needs some more talent

Impact Plus Exclusive: No Surrender Preview Keeping in mind this is an Impact Plus Exclusive, we are on the road to Slammiversary (July 2020) so this isn't really designed to be a fully fleshed out PPV hence some of the matches. Still trying to push some of the feuds and build things for Slammiversary. Quick Picks: Impact World Championship Eddie Edwards {C} vs. Jake Crist Impact World Tag Team Championship The North {C} vs. The Rascalz Madman Fulton vs. Tommy Dreamer Daga/Tessa Blanchard vs. Reno SCUM Rosemary vs. Taya Valkyrie Moose's TNA Heritage Open Challenge Chase Stevens vs. Moose Chris Bey, Rob Van Dam and Rohit Raju vs. Petey Williams, Rich Swann, Willie Mack

<p>Fun first two shows, I shocked myself with my predictions! </p><p> </p><p> AEW TNT Championship: <strong>Cody ©</strong> vs. ??? --- I'm not sure here, you have enough talent that you don't necessarily need anyone new but at the same time this is a good spot for one offs. Needs to be a decent enough worker too. No clue, but my guy says James Storm so I'll go with him. And for the record, I actually like the "Outlandish" Zicky Dice thought that Jaysin has. Kip Sabian makes sense too as he needs something. I would have went with Shawn Spears, but he's in action elsewhere.</p><p> Natural Nightmares vs. <strong>FTR</strong></p><p> Christopher Daniels vs. <strong>Colt Cabana</strong></p><p> <strong>The Young Bucks</strong> vs. The Hybrid 2 --- TH2 is criminally underrated in-ring, but they feel like they could really use a manager or something to make them actual characters. I've always felt Jack Evans could have been so much more.</p>

The graphics are great, great first week. Love seeing new voices on here too. Surprised at how many big name women aren't in SOC.

NJPW New Japan Cup 2020 Day 3 NJ Cup Round 2 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shingo Takagi NJ Cup Round 2 - Minoru Suzuki vs EVIL NJ Cup Round 2 - Kazuchika Okada vs SANADA NJ Cup Round 2 - Tomohiro Ishii vs Kota Ibushi Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi vs Zack Sabre Jr, Taichi & El Desperado Hirooki Goto, Toru Yano, SHO & YOH defeated Taiji Ishimori, Yujiro Takahashi, Gedo & Jado Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI vs Yota Tsuji & Gabriel Kidd Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask, Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe vs Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Yuya Uemura ---BREAD CLUB 4 LIFE

I've always enjoyed your content and I love the league concept! PWL will be great, consider me onboard.

Impact First Two Weeks of May -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'd hinted in the post Rebellion post that I wasn't done clearing house of some of these names that are gone in reality. As such this was Dave Crist's final appearance. I was actually planning to write him regardless (but with the plan for him to return and form his own group) but once the whole Speaking Out incidents came out, and his own brother fired him from their promotion... I figured... well... let's just get rid of him... On that note, Michael Elgin. I'm evaluating his status on a day-to-day basis. I left him off the No Surrender card (which is next) and will be doing the next two episodes of television tonight (in game). Ace Austin's surprise for No Surrender will actual help cover Elgin's absence a bit but I'm still deciding if he should be gone for good, or just suspended (seems like what Impact is actually doing as well... feel free to chime in with thoughts). We do indeed have a working agreement with AAA, and I'll be doing some shows in Mexico once I get back to having an audience. To semi-replicate Covid I've done all the tapings and PPVs in a custom studio with no fans. Yes it's bad financially for me, but it adds to my immersion. I'm ignoring some of the obvious issues with travel and such. And for now I plan on Slammiversary being the final "Studio" show. Currently I'm thinking August or November I'll do a month of tapings in Mexico and incorporate the AAA guys (Any favorites?). Currently I'm looking into ways to incorporate a guy like Texano. And on the X-Division side Vikingo and Barbario Cavenario are locks. I hope/think you'll like what Ace Austin is announcing at No Surrender.

Main Event Tag Team Match Twenty Minute Time Limit [Or TV Time Remaining] World Tag Team Title Tournament Santana & Ortiz versus The Minnesota Wrecking Crew Singles Match Fifteen Minute Time Limit OPW Television Championship Matt Cardona versus Joe Henning Singles Match Fifteen Minute Time Limit Toni Storm versus Kris Statlander --- Woah, both would be great for WOS, but great for you here too! Opening Match Twenty Minute Time Limit World Tag Team Title Tournament The Good Brothers versus Butcher & The Blade Plus appearances by "Ameican Dragon" Bryan Danielson and the Revolt! --- Safe to assume your Revolt is the old Revival and not the Carolina's Konley/Zane Riley lol.

Night 1 AEW World Tag Team Championship: ‘Hangman’ Adam Page & Kenny Omega © vs. Best Friends --- This one I went back and forth on, ultimately I settled on Hangman/Omega win to eventually drop it to FTR and lead to a feud with Young Bucks... but that's just spit-balling thoughts. AEW TNT Championship: Cody © (w/ Arn Anderson) vs. Jake Hager AEW Women’s World Championship: Hikaru Shida © vs. Penelope Ford (w/ Kip Sabian) --- I like Penelope but Hikaru makes too much sense. Private Party (w/ Matt Hardy) vs. Proud & Powerful --- I'm a fan of the fun gimmick for Private Party but PnP seem like the more badass version of them... fun NY Wrestling Scene bout. Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) vs. MJF & Wardlow --- I've tried to get on the Luchasaurus train, even tried to see him live at an indy out west last summer (concussion cost him that one), but in the end I just can't get into it... MJF on the other hand... EASY. Night 2 AEW World Championship: Jon Moxley © vs. Brian Cage --- Cage and Tazz are a fun pairing, but this is Mox. Eventually Cage might fit as more of a TNT title type guy, but this should help him overall. Orange Cassidy vs. Chris Jericho --- I get wanting to boost Orange, but this one feels like Le Champion's. FTR & The Young Bucks vs. Lucha Brothers & The Butcher and The Blade --- Big part of me things FTR costs Young Bucks and sets up a feud, and... with you mentioned the pandemic is "over" I'm thinking that Lucha Bros will have some other help in a certain bastard. SCU vs. The Dark Order (Brodie Lee, Colt Cabana, Stu Grayson) ... Join Dark Order. Lance Archer (w/ Jake Roberts) vs. Joey Janela (w/ Sonny Kiss) ... Murderhawk Nyla Rose vs. TBA (Predictions Welcome) -- I'm gonna go with a returning Riho thought about some other women, Tessa, Priscilla, but ultimately Mayu Iwatani or Riho were my thoughts. Looks really great, looking forward to this. Definitely support the decision to rethink the villainous stable (though I'd be down to see Flip and Brody in the future). As for the TNT title, it'll still be fun way to introduce talent. I enjoyed Ricky Starks NWA time, but he looked like a star when he faced Cody.

Not gonna lie, when I read Thursday night wars I thought: “Thunder” vs “Smackdown”.... but this is definitely more intriguing!

Rebellion Post-Show Thoughts April has come to an end and Impact! Wrestling ended April with an explosive card at Rebellion! As we begin to come to grips that it appears we won't have fans in the stands anytime soon, Impact has embraced the studio setting at Skyway Studios in Nashville and quietly has been putting on better and better shows. This show featured two title changes, the first two changes of 2020, and was on the up and up, but the main event felt a bit long and it looked like Eddie Edwards got his bell rung by a hard right from Sami just before the finish. Credit to Eddie for hanging in there and capturing the title. Overall I'd give the main event (*** 1/4). Pre-Show: Petey Williams and Chris Bey work well together and this was a fun opener, watch it on Impact Plus (**3/4) Knockout Title: It felt inevitable that Jordynne Grace would eventually capture the belt and the fact that Tenille attacked her added to the drama post-match. Tenille and Jordynne should be a nice feud to carry us to Slammiversary should they choose to go that route (**3/4) Elgin and Hernandez was a fun hoss fight and both men carried their weight here. Good slugfest, (***) Strap a rocket to Moose, he's gold and should have a shot at gold! Nice win over another legend in Sabu whom Impact has confirmed is done with the company after this one. (***) Ace Austin vs. Suicide (Daga) was a great X-Division match, easily the match of the night. Ace Austin is a star, so much natural sleaze and charisma and seeing the glee in his face when he unmasked Daga made for both a great visual and great finish. (***3/4) The North aren't really challenged in their division, but the use of a cinematic match here was a great choice. Impact pioneered the style and they are still crushing it today. With no fans, they can really exploit it further and may even look to further the story-telling in some midcard feuds like the "Undead Realm" in the style of Lucha Underground which was so successful in the middle of the decade. Lots to like here and Cody Deaner is turning into a fun worker. (***) Rob Van Dam, Renaissance Man? Let's not lose sight of the fact that RVD is almost 50. He is still a great worker and here he showed that he can still tell a fun story. Getting the win with a bit of help from Katie was a new twist in their relationship, but in gives RVD another title shot should he choose to pursue it. But let's be honest, it feels like he still has something to say about Willie Mack, (***). Madman Fulton and Rhino was a fun, classic, hardcore encounter. There is a lot to like about Madman and his new pairing with Raven might be the ticket to stardom that others have failed to find with him. The Unkindness could be a good stable, I wonder if they'll go TNA "Salvation" or WCW "The Flock" route with it and give Raven the microphone. It looks to me like Madman will be the in-ring focus, but there was a rumor going around backstage that Tommy Dreamer is telling friends and family that he plans to formally retire from in-ring competition at Slammiversary and may have requested one last match with Raven or his new protege. That could be a fun way to wrap up a career. Overall: *** 1/4, Lots of three star matches, one match worth seeking out and bunch to play while working from home. Stay safe, mask up, and until next time, this has been the Wrestling Observer Newsletter recap of Impact! Rebellion. Match of the Night: Ace Austin vs. Suicide Performer of the Night: Sami Callihan (56) Lastly on the rumor front I'm hearing that Don Callis is referring to himself as the "Free Agent Hunter" and is aggressively pursuing some of the names that the WWE released earlier this month due to the pandemic, but not stopping there. We've heard that Impact is actively looking at some international names and independent names that could be big stars. Give credit where credit is due, the company has been not only Hard to Kill, but has managed to build some stars. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Booker Talk (Semi-4th Wall Commentary and Thoughts) Alright, let's get right to it. I've had to make some changes to the long-term vision...but that makes this really fun. First and foremost, I'm going to be phasing some guys out (for both just lack of use purposes and the fact that they are creeps). Two of those are right away, one is coming in the next taping and one will likely occur in the next month or so game-wise. This didn't help the depth of my roster which already feels a bit thin. We have 16 Knockouts, so that's plenty to keep stories fresh enough but I still think I may add 2-4 more just to give the division some flavor and life. We have 39 men on the roster but when you break that up a bit further around 10 are absolute jobbers/Xplosion talent only, although the game got rid of push in favor of perception I view the core of the roster at this point as Singles Upper Mid-Card + Championship Tier Sami Callihan Eddie Edwards Ace Austin Moose Rob Van Dam Michael Elgin Madman Fulton Tag Teams The North X-Division I'm working to build the X-Division group up to be able and that seems to be working well as TJ Perkins, Chris Bey, The Rascalz (as individuals), Willie Mack, Daga, Rich Swann and Petey Williams are all in that range, so that's a good thing, but I don't really see any of them as World Champion caliber at the moment. Things click right, Bey or Mack might be able to make that jump. Dez has been solid in the ring, but needs a new character direction. Willie Mack's been in the program with Rob Van Dam to help build him up and even with losses I think it is working. TJ Perkins has a valid beef with Ace Austin and I think that's a strong point for moving them forward. Plans and Ruined Plans Originally (Way back at Hard to Kill) I thought about giving Tessa the belt (despite me really not liking her a ton and hearing a fair amount about her being disliked backstage doesn't help) but her injury was a natural connection to this match. As I booked this I never considered her as the winner, regardless she was taking the fall... and now that the more real life details have come out about her (No Spoilers, but look it up if interested) I'm very happy with this decision. What about Sami Callihan and dropping the belt. Listen, Sami is an interesting one. He's my most over guy (only "Major Star") and cuts a good promo. I wanted to inject a bit of the ICU hacker-type character he's turned into in reality with some of my own flavor bringing in the master manipulator Raven. I also wanted to continue to push the issues oVe were having. I've used Madman in the past (my ROH diary he was in the first Top Prospect Tournament) but he's really grown on me in the last couple months. The pairing with Raven and the new stable (The Unkindness) made a ton of sense to me as I wanted to try to build a monster heel, which is something Impact is missing currently. The theme here is Sami had his hands in too many pots and ultimately lost control of the title because of it. Giving it to a face champion (and a personal favorite) was the decision we went with because I think it creates a much deeper card for Slammiversary. Eddie Edwards actually was injured during this bout (thankfully not badly) with a mild concussion. That will play into his next storyline. Speaking of Slammiversary, we are refreshing this roster and there will be at least one former World Champion returning at Slammiversary. Let's continue with Moose. I've spent the last couple months building Moose as the TNA Legend Killer, first retiring Ken Shamrock and now Sabu. Post-match he mentioned "Heritage" to Scott D'Amore and I think you will like why he brought that up as his next story arc that will carry us through Slammiversary for him. This was the last appearance for Sabu as I released he and Super Genie after the match. All of the plans I had for him I executed and frankly I didn't have much else to do with him. In a test game he retired right away, so I expect that can't be far away. Unlike, Ken Shamrock (who is actually still around) I didn't see Sabu as a potential mentor for someone. I've tinkered in with my head about having Ken Shamrock as a manager for a former MMA/Marital Artist and I've thought about some options on both the male and female side of the spectrum for that. Another peek behind the curtain here. When I booked Rebellion I was heavily considering a two pronged refresh of the tag division with oVe imploding and The Rascalz finding Trey "out cold" leading to Wentz and Dez joining up with Dave Crist as Scarlet and Graves (a gimmick they ran with during the CZW days). Seeing what we've seen, I'm glad we didn't go that route, but The Rascalz as a trio may need some level of a refresh, young stoners just isn't a championship level gimmick. As for oVe, next episode will answer that. I will say this, I didn't ever really consider going with the Cancel Culture gimmick so there is that. The Knockouts Championship will be the only KO title for the time being. I think Impact is hinting at the KO Tag Titles coming back and I don't see a need. That said, making Jordynne Grace the champ was an intentional decision to give us a face champion and allow some new challenges. The strength of the division is currently on the heel side with Madison Rayne, Taya, and Tenille representing the strength. Rosemary is a strong face, but she's occupied teaching Susie to be good. Kylie Rae and Kimber Lee will continue to be pushed as the next wave of faces, and there is a new heel debuting soon. The North don't really have a natural rival or real challenger in the tag division. The tag division is really kinda bad beyond the champs. I'm working to fix that, but I don't believe in just hot shotting someone or signing people without logic or story. So the next three months may be a bit thin as we build things up. I'm thinking about just having The North "Barnstorm" and beat up on jobbers for a bit until their challengers arrive (likely Slammiversary time). Petey Williams and Chris Bey is a fun little feud for the lower card that builds up some lower-level talent. The X-Division is going to be a focus of the next three months and Ace Austin will have some announcement regarding why that is shortly. Joey Ryan, I didn't have a use for him and then all this #Speakingout stuff came out about him... He's been released and we won't be seeing him again. RVD vs Willie Mack; originally Willie was going to win this, it just made sense. But then RVD wasn't happy and I had a change of heart... Willie losing prolongs their feud and with Rich Swann returning that gives us more for them to do. Rob Van Dam getting the X-Division shot gives us a challenger for this months Impact Plus event. Michael Elgin, was planning to build him up as a bit of a loose cannon type and may still go that route. The suspension in reality for some of the things he's said in the past is a bit of a sticky-ish situation, from what I'm seeing it's a bit different than Dave and Joey's situation but I'm still sorting that one out. For now, I did book him on the next taping (two shows). To recap: Joey Ryan: Released with cause Sabu and Super Genie: Released, but welcome to return in future if I have a reason Dave Crist: Stay tuned for next episode Tessa Blanchard: TBD Michael Elgin: TBD Alright, that's enough word vomit for now. Any specific questions or comments, let me know, always an open book here at Impact! Predictions: The_Lariat 6/8 (+1 for the Pre-Show, why not!) Nobby_McDonald 5/8 Overall After Four Shows: Powerbrock100: 21/23 (+4) Olivertaylor276: 10/15 (+1) Munit: 12/16 20Legend: 4/8 Kijar: 12/15 (+1) Blodyxe: 14/15 (+4) Nobby_McDonald: 19/23 (1) The_Lariat: 6/8 (+1)

Impact! Wrestling: Rebellion on PPV Here is Rebellion, the "Spring" Pay-per-view and it delivered on that. Two new champions, Raven revealing his intentions (or did he?!)... Plus a ton of developments. Tomorrow AM, I will write-up the post-show recaps per usual (huge thanks to 20Legend for the nomination in the misc category of DOTM for these. I love giving a bit of insight on my thought process, so it was nice to see that people enjoy that... and thanks to voters for the votes, always an honor.).. This write-up will be interesting... let's just say there is a ton of stuff happening in the real wrestling world and in the game that make some of my original plans a bit tricky/need to change. I'll cover this fully! Also we will have some Impact Wrestling commentary/roster construct thoughts. Lots of fun stuff in the pipe. I like to try to play keeping real world events and timelines in mind and actually tend to book in game only one taping (occasionally two) beyond where I am in this diary so I can be flexible to reality too... and some of this news over the last week makes me happy to do it this way as I can pivot... Ok, more tomorrow.

That’s.... for the better. Now Balls really is in danger (kidding... I hope?)

New Jack is going to kill Balls... I can’t get over that Swinger is both still wrestling today (and only mid 40s) and better than ever... so him losing here was sad for me haha, but expected. Great show.

Loved this show, really enjoyed the video integrations in this episode in particular really felt like it worked well and it is clear you take time to pick the right moments for the story. I've always enjoyed Tomko (way back to the EWR days when I pushed him to the moon as Travis Bane) but I struggle to see his value with his current momentum. He feels like a guy that needs a 6-month off screen, repackage as a mercenary or something. My feeling on Lockdown is that while pure cage matches is a bit crazy, you can likely build enough around variations of cage matches or cage style matches (Shoot Fight, Cage Submission Only etc that it could work).

Rebellion Pre-Show and Final Call

Kid Kash! TV Champ, like it! Fun series of shows.

Rebellion Preview Impact World Championship Sami Callihan {C} vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Tessa Blanchard Impact X-Division Championship Ace Austin {C} vs. Suicide Impact Knockouts Title Taya Valkyrie {C} vs. Jordynne Grace Impact World Tag Titles Falls Count Anywhere on the Deaner Compound The North {C} vs. The Deaners Raven’s Clockwork Orange House of Fun Madman Fulton vs. Rhino If RVD wins he gets Mack’s X-Division Title Shot Rob Van Dam vs. Willie Mack Moose vs. Sabu “The Wrecking Ball” Michael Elgin vs. Hernandez

Final Impact's Before Rebellion

<p>NJ Cup Round 1 - <strong>Kazuchika Okada</strong> vs YOSHI-HASHI</p><p> </p><p> NJ Cup Round 1 - Zack Sabre Jr vs<strong> SANADA</strong></p><p> </p><p> NJ Cup Round 1 - <strong>Kota Ibushi</strong> vs Toru Yano</p><p> </p><p> NJ Cup Round 1 - Satoshi Kojima vs <strong>Tomohiro Ishii</strong></p><p> </p><p> <strong>Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahash</strong>i vs Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ryusuke Taguchi, Yuji Nagata, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma</p><p> </p><p> <strong>Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, El Desperado & DOUKI </strong>vs Hirooki Goto, SHO, YOH & Yota Tsuji</p><p> </p><p> <strong>Yoshinobu Kanemaru</strong> vs Yuya Uemura</p><p> </p><p> Gabriel Kidd vs <strong>Taiji Ishimori</strong></p>

Impact: Rebellion First Preview Impact! Wrestling Presents: Rebellion in Two Weeks (First Look Preview) We are still a little more than two weeks away from Rebellion but we already have five explosive matches lined up with more on the way. Impact! Wrestling will be on AXS TV twice more prior to the Pay-Per-View and things are certain to continue developing but for now, here is a brief preview of the current card, including a couple matches that Impact!'s Management can officially confirm.

Impact on AXS April Week 1 and Week 2 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Catching up on some commentary... I've always loved Raven and try to find a realistic way to incorporate him into a diary. Didn't do it with the ROH diary as it never felt right, but I did think about it. When I saw him make a real return to impact during the show that wound up being the last live audience show they did, I said to myself, this is a perfect chance to bring him back it. He's a master mental manipulator and that style works well with the characters we have. Carrying on that thought, I also don't really like the way Impact handled the ICU stuff, I suspect the lack of audience forced some changes. But it gave me a good idea for something here. The idea is to force people into some sense of confusion. Sami saying things like "Reality is Lost" keeps him still associated with the ICU promos from reality, but Raven is the one appearing when the symbols show up. As I said above, I want to portray Raven as a master mental manipulator and I hope that will shine through as this story develops over the next few game months. Kimber Lee is another one. When they brought her in I felt like they were going to do maybe a little more with her, but I suspect it was more as a fill in talent since she and Wentz are married. That said, her Crown Jewel (brass knucks) and Princess gimmick were too good to pass up in the rebuild of the Knockouts division. I have a storyline for her that will start to be fleshed out. Really trying to get all the Knockouts into something, and we are getting close! So I'm stoked on that. I went ahead and silently moved the company to the South East (Nashville). To account for the Covid-19 stuff I am booking all these episodes post-Homecoming and for an indefinite time with no audience in a custom location (Skyway Studios in Nashville). I'm ignoring some of the travel restrictions and such as that would have gotten far to complex and really hamstrung some stories. But in keeping with reality I will splice some pieces in here and there... such as the Deaners being on Kwaranteen. Thank you kindly. I appreciate the note. Willie Mack is an enigma. He felt like a great counterbalance to the lazy, I don't care, version of RVD and the feud developed through that. It's working well... and if RVD isn't careful, Willie might just crack some Mackweisers open. One more build-up of TV episodes and then we've reached the next full-fledged pay-per-view, Rebellion. Next post will have the current card in a more formal way, but through this episode we can now see things starting to get clearer. We know that Sami Callihan will defend his World Title against not just Eddie Edwards, but also Tessa Blanchard. We know that The North will face The Deaners in a match of the Deaners choosing. We know that Taya Valkyrie will face the winner of Jordynne Grace vs. Tenille Dashwood. We've hinted at Rob Van Dam and Willie Mack finally squaring off.. We've hinted at but not confirmed Rhino and Madman Fulton.

Excellent, this will be great. I love the realism your diaries tend to portray. Will be following.

AEW TNT Championship - Cody © vs. Rey Fenix MJF & Wardlow vs. Hangman Page & Kenny Omega #FTR vs. Private Party Jon Moxley vs. John Silver Lance Archer vs. Darby Allin Kris Statlander vs. Mel