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Scott D'Amore Is Back In Charge, Athena Goes Through A Wave Of Emotions | IMPACT x ROH Recap

Wrestling
Robert DeFelice Jul 20, 2023 10:00PM

Here is your fight size update following IMPACT and ROH Wrestling on Thursday, July 20, 2023.

Below are highlights from both Thursday night wrestling shows.

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IMPACT Wrestling

- This week's broadcast before with a review of Slammiversary before sending it to the ring, where Scott D'Amore awaits with a microphone in hand. D'Amore expresses gratitude to his local audience. It was an honor to compete in front of them, but his leave of absence as President is now over.

- After The Good Hands, Jason Hotch & John Skyler interrupted him, D'Amore booked them in a tag team match with Sami Callihan & Rich Swann. Swann & Sami rebounded from their loss on Saturday with a victory on July 20.

In the show's closing segment, Josh Alexander called out IMPACT World Champion Alex Shelley. Both men were interrupted by Lio Rush, and then KUSHIDA, and then Bully Ray as the championship picture heats up.

- In a back-and-forth contest, the returning Jake Something defeated Kevin Knight in his first singles match since returning at Slammiversary.

- Courtney Rush squeaked by Savannah Evans and won a victory on July 20. On the outside of the ring, Jody Threat & Jessicka took care of the other members of the Shawntourage, Jai Vidal & Gisele Shaw.

- In a backstage segment, Nick Aldis met with an old rival, Eric Young.

- A video package highlighted Trinity winning the IMPACT Knockouts World Title at Slammiversary.

- A separate video package also highlighted how jealous The Coven's Taylor Wilde & KiLynn King are of Trinity's victory. They also stated that they want their IMPACT Knockouts Tag Team Championship back.

- Jonathan Gresham sought a sit-down interview with Tom Hannifan in a segment that aired on July 20, 2023, where he reflected on pushing for the restoration of Pure Rules in ROH and argued that the atmosphere he was in no longer fit him before abruptly walking away and ending the interview.

- Santino Marella abdicated his duties as Director of Authority for one night only in an effort to settle his vendetta with Dirty Dango. Unfortunately for Santino, Dango had an ace up his sleeve in the form of John E. Bravo. The interference of Bravo allowed Dango to defeat Santino.

- Ace Austin & Chris Bey got into a brawl backstage with The Rascalz. This led to Scott D'Amore ejecting both Trey Miguel & Zachary Wentz from the building.

- Ace & Bey attempted to win back the IMPACT World Tag Team Titles from SUBCULTURE's Mark Andres & Flash Morgan Webster later in the night. The Rascalz interfered anyway leading to the champions retaining.

- Check out the card for next week's episode here.

Ring of Honor

- Athena turned back yet another challenger in another Proving Ground Match. This time, she defeated Nikita, despite never putting on her gear. At ROH Death Before Dishonor, she faces Willow Nightingale. She's not happy about it, though. Too bad for her that Tony Khan is stoked for the match.

- After the match, which ended with just one shot to the jaw, Athena beat down Nikita in pure frustration. Willow Nightingale came down to confront her.

- Sean Ross Sapp interviewed Willow before the match. The full interview will be available to the public on July 21.

- The Ring of Honor episode on July 20 began with a promo for Daniel Garcia against Katsuyori Shibata vs. Daniel Garcia at ROH Death Before Dishonor for the ROH Pure Title. Garcia then went on to defeat Jason Geiger under Pure Rules via the Dragontamer. After the match, Shibata came out to confront his Challenger for July 21.

- In a very back-and-forth contest. Utami Hayashishita of STARDOM arrived in Ring of Honor and defeated Trish Adora of The Infantry. Hayashishita recently trained with Natalya of WWE.

- Dalton Castle managed to topple Shane Taylor and earn the right to face Samoa Joe for the ROH World Television Championship at ROH Death Before Dishonor.

- Josh Woods, with all of the Varsity Athletes by his side, picked up a Pure Rules victory over James Stone.

- The Boys (Brandon Tate & Brent Tate) were beaten by The Righteous (Vincent & Dutch with Stu Grayson). After the bout, Evil Uno appeared on the ramp holding a chair. Stu Grayson smirked at Evil Uno while performing the Nightfall on Brent Tate.

- It was announced that The Righteous will again team with Grayson to take on The Dark Order, only this time in a Fight Without Honor at Death Before Dishonor.

- Leyla Hirsh defeats Nicole Matthews in the final women's bout of the night.

- Death Before Dishonor will mark the first time in this new era the first time ever, a Ring of Honor pay-per-view will be available on WatchROH.com

- The Kingdom successfully won a 4-Way Tag Team Match tonight. If they can manage to do that again on July 21, they will become the new Ring of Honor World Tag Team Champions.

- Fans can check out the full Friday pay-per-view event card here.

- The event will be headlined by Claudio Castagnoli defending the ROH World Championship against PAC.

- Check out our review podcast below:

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