Spoilers: Impact Wrestling Tapings (Ft. Former WWE Superstar Returns, Possible Injury, Company Changes)

WOW! Courtesy of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and WrestlingInc, we have some massive spoilers on the Impact Wrestling tapings from yesterday, featuring a former WWE superstar returning to Impact Wrestling, debuts, a potential injury and company changes.

Impact are doing TV tapings from 10th-15th in Orlando which will build through 12 episodes to 4/19, which is the go-home show for the 4/22 ‘Lockdown’ pay-per-view show.

Of note is that this is the first set of tapings with input from Don Callis, who is now in charge of the wrestling throughout the promotion alongside Scott D’Amore.

To begin with, the company has changed a variety of things to start 2018 off fresh. The Impact Global Championship has been renamed as the Impact World Championship.

Continuing, the company is going back to using a four-sided ring. This decision was made some time back by D’Amore and Sonjay Dutt and is endorsed by Callis, who would rather it being four-sided. This is of note, as Johnny Impact mentioned recently in an interview that he does not like working in the six-sided ring.

On the ring itself, there is a Twitch banner. This indicates a partnership between the extremely popular video-streaming website owned by Amazon and Impact Wrestling. It is worth noting that Twitch has been gathering a rather impressive list of companies under their belt for online streaming, including the Wrestle Circus promotion based out of Texas.

Another change is that the Grand Championship will now be contested as regular matches as opposed to the previous system involving the rounds and judges.

The biggest news so far from the tapings is former WWE superstar Austin Aries making his return to the company that originally shot Aries into super stardom in the wrestling industry.

During his debut, Aries defeated Eli Drake to capture the Impact World Championship. This followed a segment where Aries made his return and interrupted a promo by Drake & Chris Adonis where he challenged Drake. Aries claimed that to be the greatest man who ever lived, Drake must defeat him.

Before we continue the list of notes, here are the match result spoilers for the tapings so far:

Caleb Conley def. Rohit Raju (Xplosion)

Jeremy Borash announced there would be surprises

Impact Grand Championship: Matt Sydal (c) def. Fallah Bahh

Bobby Lashley def. KM

Keira Hogan def. Laurel Van Ness (after a distraction by Allie)

LAX promo on oVe. oVe came out and claimed they would become champions again. Konley and Trevor Lee came in to attack both teams and left.

Impact & Moose def. Alberto El Patron & EC3

Drake and Adonis came out for their promo, which prompted the return of Aries as explained above.

Impact World Championship: Aries def. Drake (c)

Scoop #21: Aries won the title pic.twitter.com/M0czVJYxbV

— Jacob Cohen (@MrJacobCohen) January 11, 2018

Sydal & Taiji Ishimori def. Hijo del Fantasma & Rohit Raju

Lee & Konley def. Cult of Lee (TC Reid & Mike Monroe)

LAX cut a promo saying they are coming for Lee and Konley and there is nothing they can do.

Impact Knockouts Championship: Laurel Van Ness (c) def. Keira Hogan

Van Ness attacked Hogan after the match but Allie made the save.

Hania def. Amber Nova

Rosemary attacked Hania after the match but the latter managed to escape.

Impact def. Patron, Moose and EC3 to become the #1 contender to the Impact World Championship

oVe def. Cult of Lee (Xplosion)

Rosemary def. Nova (Xplosion)

It is worth noting that during the number one contenders match between Impact, Moose, Patron and EC3, Moose was potentially injured.

According to Jacob Cohen who was in attendance, Moose was helped to the back by a bunch of guys and may have suffered a potential leg injury. PWInsider has since noted that Moose did not tear anything, so it may have been a stinger.

Lot of guys helping Moose to the back, he may have a legit leg injury

— Jacob Cohen (@MrJacobCohen) January 11, 2018

Dutt, aged 35, had surgery on January 5 for a torn Achilles tendon. Such an injury tends to put athletes on the shelf for nine months to upwards of a year. Dutt remained lead writer for the shows, but couldn’t fly to the tapings due to fear of potential blood clots. Chris Candido passed away due to blood clots following a surgery, so Dutt didn’t want to test fate.

PWInsider has noted that Rey Mysterio Jr. may be debuting at the upcoming tapings, unless there is a last minute change. There was footage shot for that, so it is very possible he does debut with the company.

A match to be taped on January 27 in Las Vegas for Future Stars of Wrestling features Patron and Moose and is being taped for Impact. This is, of course, if Moose can compete given his potential injury mentioned above.

Laurel Van Ness gave her notice at the last tapings that she wanted her release. While she has since said she is under contract for the next few months, she may be finishing up with the company during these tapings. If that is indeed the case, she will likely lose the Championship to Hogan or Allie.

Vannarah Riggs (Su Yung) is expected to make her debut at the tapings. If this name sounds familiar to you, it may be due to her recently being in the news due to her domestic violence case against her husband, former WWE Cruiserweight Champion Rich Swann.

Stay tuned for more spoilers as the tapings continue. Borash told fans in attendance that they should expect surprises and we believe there are plenty more to come.

Several superstars from Impact were involved in a funny video the company uploaded to their official YouTube channel where they answered which member of the roster they’d want to live with.

If You Had to Live with A Member of the Roster Who Would it Be? | The Question Mark Jan. 9th, 2018

What are you most excited for coming out of these tapings? Do you like the six-sided ring?

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