Pay-per-view air date: January 16, 2022
Since 2001, the year both Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling closed, a lot of wrestling companies have appeared with most disappearing, barely leaving an impression. So I’m happy to see new companies continue to try but always skeptical. Is this someone with some money, booking talent and a building, and slapping three letters together (there is almost always a W and it almost always stands for “wrestling”), or is this something new? I hadn’t seen a new company really try something new since Ring of Honor debuted in 2002.
Until January 16, 2022, with the debut show of TERMINUS, broadcast on FITE TV live from Atlanta. TERMINUS has rules similar to the Ring of Honor Pure division with some variations, but they apply to every match and not just one division. An assortment of names from various companies–such as Impact Wrestling and AEW– and free-agent stars gave it a unique lineup. There were even some substitutions due to travel issues as a snowstorm had hit the Southeast.
Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard were good the entire broadcast. They not only called the action but gave background on the individual wrestlers and gave any info on past or current issues the wrestlers may have in other companies. Started a little late but hey, there was a snowstorm in Atlanta and this was their first show. There were bound to be hiccups.
Lee Moriarty defeated Josh Woods
In the first match, Lee Moriarty got the win over Josh Woods. It was a good match that also served to display the rules set up.
Daniel Garcia defeated JDX, Adam Priest, and Invictus Khash
In a four-way eliminator, Daniel Garcia not only won, but he also eliminated all three of his opponents-JDX, Adam Priest, and Invictus Khash in succession. I thought all four men looked sharp and worked really hard. Since there were actual rules for them to follow, they avoided a lot of the cliches multi-person matches often have.
Mike Bennett defeated Moose
By DQ
Matt Taven joins commentary as his tag partner in the OGK, Mike Bennett (filling in for an injured Alex Coughlin), faced his own former tag partner in Impact Wrestling World champion Moose in a non-title match. Another good match where commentary shined. They highlighted not only the past relationship of the two men but the current situation Taven, Bennett, and other former ROH talent have going on in Impact.
I was wondering how they would play this. But the first thing Moose does is give Bennett the double middle finger salute and establish himself as the heel. He cements this by throwing Bennett over the top rope twice, earning him the first disqualification in TERMINUS. He really put me in the mind of the “Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels at the first ROH show, where he established himself as ROH’s first heel.
As he made his way to the back after his match, Moose was confronted by Coughlin. Coughlin did not seem to appreciate his tactics. Looks like we’re going to get this match-up eventually.
Diamante defeated Janai Kai
Janai Kai was set to face Liza Hall. Hall had travel issues and her replacement was AEW star Diamante. (Who also holds the WOW world tag titles with Kiera Hogan). The match had a rough start but once they settled down, it turned out pretty well with Diamante winning with a tough-looking head and arm choke with Kai’s body grapevined by Diamante’s legs.
Jordynne Grace defeated Kiera Hogan
For the IMPACT Wrestling Digital Media Championship
In the first title match of the night, Impact Wrestling Digital Media Champion “Big Mama Pump” Jordynne Grace beat back the challenge of former friend/frequent foe Kiera Hogan. Very good match. Hogan has been on a roll with her matches lately. She lost here but she looks to be at the top of her game. Grace countered a Hogan wheelbarrow roll with a devastating Fall From Grace driver. Great finish to a strong match.
Bandido defeated Baron Black
For the ROH World Championship
Nice promo from Baron Black before his title match. ROH lineal World champion (he never lost the title, having missed the ROH Final Battle pay-per-view due to contracting COVID) Bandido beat back a very game Black with his 21plex finisher.
The Cartel defeated Catch Point
Former MCW Wrestling tag team champions, the Cartel (Joe Keys and Dante Caballero) were victorious in their match against former EVOLVE tag champions, Catch Point (Fred Yehi and “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams). This was the first tag match of the show and company history. Keys pinned Williams with :35 seconds left in the time limit. A hard fought match but a few times it felt the referee had lost control like any other tag match in every other company.
There was a situation where Catch Point had the Cartel in matching submission holds and the official was checking for a submission instead of checking the illegal men out of the ring. As good a match as it was, it might have landed even better earlier, before the title matches.
Main Event: Jonathan Gresham vs Josh Alexander
For the ROH Original World Championship
The main event featured two men who won their first world titles less than 50 days apart as former Impact World champion, “The Walking Weapon” Josh Alexander challenged “The Octopus” Jonathan Gresham for Gresham’s ROH Original World title (an unwieldy name if there ever was one) under Pure rules. Commentary was again excellent pointing out that Gresham has never beaten Alexander in any of their previous four encounters.
An outstanding main event between two master technical wrestlers. Alexander attempted a superplex on Gresham from the ring apron with Gresham countering and locking in a cradle upon impact. Unfortunately, the champion still had his own shoulders down as the referee counted 3, ending the match in a double-pin draw. Did not see that coming. So neither owner won their match. THAT’S some revolutionary stuff right there for pro wrestling.
Bandido came down for a face-off with the other claimant to the ROH world title. They were interrupted by the surprise arrival of Santana of Proud N Powerful. Santana puts over TERMINUS and Gresham and their mutual history just before he challenges Gresham at the next TERMINUS show on Feb 24th for the ROH World title. Gresham lets Bandido know his time will come, but Santana will get his shot on Feb 24th.
An impressive debut with great action and with some awesome surprises.
The one glaring flaw was them using the normal TERMINUS time limit clock even for matches commentary notes that aren’t under TERMINUS rules, such as the Impact and ROH title matches. Other than that, not much to nitpick apart. If this is how good they are in their debut, they should be flawless soon. Well done.
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Reviews by Dave is the best wrestling review on the internet! It’s written by David Houston II, who writes about Impact Wrestling pay-per-view.
