Impact Wrestling Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction, Highlights from January 27

Two days before a historic appearance in the WWE Royal Rumble, Impact Wrestling Knockouts champion Mickie James addressed the current state of the division in one of the marquee segments of Thursday night's show.

The latest in the rivalry between W. Morrissey and Moose over the Impact world title, the next chapter in Honor No More's invasion of the company and the return of Bullet Club stateside rounded out another strong AXS TV broadcast.

Bullet Club's Chris Bey kicked off Thursday's show in a match against the powerhouse Jake Something. 

Something dominated early, but a blind charge into the ring post on the floor allowed Bey to seize control of the bout. He delivered a big neckbreaker to retain his upper hand. Something fought back, flattened Bey with a suplex, then added a Sky High powerbomb for a two-count.

Bey regained control, but Something seemingly fueled up with every strike thrown his direction as the match continued. With rage fueling him, Something ran over the former X-Division champion, then caught him in mid-flight and put him down with Into the Void.

After the match, Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa) and Jay White attacked Something and "Speedball" Mike Bailey before the former two were overhead throwing a message loudly and clearly to The Good Brothers.

Result

Something defeated Bey

Grade

A

Analysis

The match itself was straight fire. The arrival of Bullet Club afterward was the icing on the proverbial cake.

Something picked up a major victory over a former champion in Bey, the likes of which he has been lacking of late. Hopefully, it sparks a run for the talented young star that lets him build momentum and find greater success in Impact.

The post-match events likely set up a tag bout down the line, but the bigger takeaway was definitely Tonga and Loa's challenge to The Good Brothers, who may have previously been banner members of Bullet Club but are now clearly against them. 

Honor No More's Mike Bennett, Vincent, Maria Kanellis, Matt Taven and PCO made their presence felt, only for Rich Swann, Chris Sabin, Eddie Edwards, Rhino and Josh Alexander to rush the ring.

A tense showdown was interrupted by Scott D'Amore, who exchanged some insults with Kanellis before revealing that Team Impact vs. Honor No More will take place at No Surrender. If the home team wins, the invaders are gone. If the Ring of Honor alumni are victorious, they can stay.

The segment ended with D'Amore booking Sabin vs. PCO for later in the night.

Grade

B

Analysis

The Honor No More story is still fresh and interesting, so it is nice to see Impact capitalizing and booking a match between them and their own stars sooner rather than waiting until later. Said match should headline No Surrender and bring some additional eyes to the live event special.

As for the Sabin vs. PCO match later tonight, that should be a hell of a match between two celebrated veterans and two acclaimed tag team wrestlers, both of whom have won titles in world-renowned promotions.

Fully expect those not involved in the match to make their presence felt and influence the outcome.

Speaking of influence...

With Tenille Dashwood unable to compete, Kaleb (with a K!) joined Madison Rayne for a match with the Knockouts tag team champions, The IInspiration (Jessie McKay and Cassie Lee).

Kaleb dropped Lee with a superkick heading into the commercial break and proceeded to isolate her from her partner for a large portion of the bout. Lee created separation and tagged McKay into the match.

The champions overcame a late surge by the male competitor, and Lee scored the win by pinning him.

Result

The IInspiration defeated Rayne and Kaleb

Grade

C+

Analysis

This was better than it had any right to be, thanks to the use of Kaleb.

Rather than overbooking things or treating Kaleb like a comedic act, he was just another part of the match. He wrestled the match as his partner and opponents wrestled and never appeared to be out of place. He bumped for his opponents, and the intergender nature of the match never overwhelmed its presentation.

The IInspiration winning was the right call, and the absence of Dashwood sets up a rematch if and when the Aussie returns to the show. 

Gail Kim introduced Knockouts champion Mickie James to the squared circle, just 48 hours before she becomes the first Impact star to enter the WWE Royal Rumble.

James ran down all of the historic things the Knockouts division has accomplished, even paying homage to rival Deonna Purrazzo.

Chelsea Green eventually interjected, hyping James up ahead of her historic entry into the Rumble match. When Tasha Steelz—winner of the first Knockouts Ultimate X match and top contender—interfered, Green joined James in clearing her and Savannah Evans out of the ring before standing tall. 

Grade

B

Analysis

This was a great reminder of everything the Knockouts division has accomplished over the last few years and better hype for the Women's Royal Rumble than we have seen from the company that is actually hosting that match Saturday night.

The involvement of Green, Evans and Steelz seemingly sets up a tag match at some point in the very near future and gives Impact an opportunity to turn Green alongside husband Matt Cardona, who is just one win away from the Digital Media Championship.

VSK, Zicky Dice and six other unnamed competitors battled W. Morrissey in an 8-on-1 Handicap Match.

It went about as well as one would expect, with the big man and No. 1 contender to the Impact Wrestling Championship dismantling the competition and pinning Dice to win the contest.

After the match, Brian Myers left the commentary position and attempted to attack the victor, only to find himself guzzled. From out of nowhere, world champion Moose attacked, blasting him with the world title, leaving Morrissey lying.

Result

Morrissey defeated The Learning Tree

Grade

C+

Analysis

Say what you will about VSK and Dice's talent, but The Learning Tree loses nothing by being steamrolled by the massive, unstoppable Morrissey.

The attack by Moose allows the uncharacteristically quiet champion to build heat for himself ahead of his showdown with Morrissey, whom he has calculatingly avoided as often as possible since Hard To Kill.

After weeks of watching Morrissey create buzz and momentum for himself, the world champion stole some back and now will look to not only survive against Morrissey but retain his title.

Johnny Swinger talked himself into a match with Jonah a week ago.

Thursday, he felt the wrath of the Aussie.

The big man dominated Swinger and defeated him in short order. After the match, though, Decay arrived on the scene to check on the fallen Swinger. Jonah had a brief staredown with Black Taurus and Crazzy Steve before exiting the Impact Zone.

During the match, AEW's Dan Lambert watched Jonah's dominance and applauded accordingly.

Result

Jonah defeated Swinger

Grade

C

Analysis

Please give us Jonah vs. Taurus, Impact.

Jonah continued to look utterly dominant on the heels of his loss to Josh Alexander at Hard to Kill and now has drawn the attention of Impact stalwarts Decay. Whether that sets up a longer-term program in time for No Surrender or if they are merely his next set of victims, it keeps the big man busy while he continues to look for his role with the company.

The bigger question is what was with the Lambert tease?

Is there still a working relationship with AEW and if so, how long before Jonah pops up on Wednesday nights, mixing it up with anyone who pisses off the founder of American Top Team?

Despite his backup in Eddie Edwards, Rich Swann, Rhino and Josh Alexander being tossed from ringside early on by the official, Chris Sabin fought from underneath and was in a position to defeat PCO late in the main event of Thursday's show.

Instead, Maria Kanellis hopped on the apron, distracting the referee, allowing Mike Bennett to push Sabin off the top rope. PCO caught him and applied a full nelson before driving him into the mat with a Bubba Bomb for the pinfall victory.

After the match, Edwards, Swann, Rhino and Alexander re-emerged from the back, chasing Honor No More off, but not before The Walking Weapon applied the ankle lock to Vincent, sending a message to the No Surrender opposition.

Result

PCO defeated Sabin

Grade

B

Analysis

This was a really strong main event between two guys who have been recognized for their talent for a very long time. The action was crisp, the athleticism from both awe-inspiring, but it was the heels and their inability to do anything without others getting involved that proved the difference in the match.

Sabin is essentially bulletproof at this point in his career, so a loss with clear interference does nothing to hurt his credibility. At the same time, there is a portion of the Impact audience that has no idea who PCO is, so him winning a match against a former world champion is a nice introduction of sorts.

The eventual showdown between the two teams is going to be killer and makes No Surrender on February 19 almost destination television.