Impact Wrestling 6/9/2020

6/10

Impact continues to deliver a consistently solid show on Tuesday Nights, and as their roster continues to filter back after the shutdown, it's set to get even better. And then, depending on which WWE rejects Impact signs and pushes at Slammiversary, either even better still, or much worse.

Impact management has been discussing the future of the Impact World Championship, according to Josh Matthews. To prove it, they show two pasty white guys in slightly damp buttoned shirts having a very serious conversation in a small conference room. Well, I'm convinced. How about you?

Welcome to Bleeding Cool's review of Impact Wrestling for June 9th, 2020. Well, more of a recap really, but I'll give it a score at the end, and no one will be the wiser. The drinking game this week is to take a shot every time I manage to spell Deonna Purrazzo's name correctly.

Impact kicks off with a triple threat match. Michael Elgin comes out first, followed by Ken Shamrock, but Shamrock isn't waiting for Sami Callahan to join them. He attacks Elgin for that ball-kicking a few weeks back. The Smackdown Hacker interrupts the broadcast, and Callahan appears in the ring.

After a while, Elgin notices Callahan in the ring and attacks, but Callahan gets the upper hand. Josh Matthews plays up the mutual respect between Callahan and Shamrock. Shamrock hits a top rope dive on Elgin and Callahan on the outside. Matthews says he found the fountain of youth. By which he presumably means testosterone replacement therapy.

It's a triple threat match. We've seen one every day this week so far. You know how it goes. Everyone takes turns being in control. Everyone takes turns selling outside the ring while the other two men fight for a while.

How old is Ken Shamrock, anyway? Google tells me he's 56-years-old. Terry Funk was around that age the last time he won the ECW Championship (Deeeesssperado). A couple of years younger, actually. But Shamrock looks way older. Hell, Shamrock may look older than Terry Funk does today, that old bastard. Shamrock took a powerbomb like a champ, though, as Michael Elgin got the three-count.

After the match, Shamrock and Callahan are in the ring when Callahan does his disappearing act. Is he supposed to be Batman or something? Does that make Shamrock Commissioner Gordon? Madison Rayne thinks these two would be an unstoppable force if they got together. Matthews thinks he and Rayne make a good team too. She shuts him down. Don't they have workplace sexual harassment training in Impact Wrestling, Matthews?

Gia Miller interviews Jordynne Grace backstage. Grace says, coming back to impact is like coming home. Grace was tired of being stuck at home, and she's ready to return to normalcy, which she'll do by driving Taya Valkyrie's head through the mat. Tasha Steelz fights Susie next, after some commercials.

Trey confronts The Rascalz backstage. He wants to know who jumped him last week. They suggest it was Ace Austin or Reno Scum. The North show up and hint that it was Trey's own teammates. All I have to say is, does anyone know the whereabouts of Jeff Hardy during the attack? Was he drinking and driving again?

Tasha Steelz comes out with Kiera Hogan, followed by Susie. Matthews and Rayne use the opportunity to call Kylie Rae stupid for not realizing Susie and Su Yung are the same people. Steelz and Susie have an average, unremarkable match. Steelz won with the Diamond Cutter.

Backstage, Ace Austin was late for his interview with Gia Miller, so she waited for him. Austin speculated that the big news about the Impact World Championship tonight would be that Impact is gonna make him the champion since he's the number one contender. Tessa Blanchard is never coming back to work. Moose shows up to suggest Austin fight him for the TNA World Championship at Slammiversary. Austin wasn't interested. Hernandez shows up and challenges Moose to a match next week.

Deanna Purrazzo pulls up a limo! Well, okay, in a mid-grade rental car. But it definitely has the GPS upgrade. Business is about to pick up after some commercials.

Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz celebrate backstage after their victory, but they run into Havok and Nevaeh, who challenge them to a match. Steelz may be new here, but she's not working twice in one night. What is this, Monday Night Raw? The match will happen next week.

The Impact Plus Flashback Moment of the Week features Mike Bennett vs Earl Hebner?! Bennett gets the pin, but the real winners are the fans who got to see Hebner take his shirt off.

Backstage, Rohit Raju accosts Rhino for goring him last week. He wants to be Rhino's tag team partner, but Rhino says he has one already, referencing Heath Slater "He's got, kids." Rhino gored Raju last week to teach him a lesson about respect because kids these days. He tells him to get off his lawn, but when Rhino turns his back, Raju attacks. They brawl off the screen and into commercials.

Back from the break, Taya Valkyrie searches for Johnny Bravo. Then Johnny Swinger and Chris Bey come out for a tag team match. They're fighting Cousin Jake Deaner and Willie Mack. I have no interest in watching anything related to the Deaners, so let's see what Matthews and Rayne are up to. Matthews accuses Rayne of wrestling during the 80s. Rayne claims to have inside knowledge of which fired WWE Superstars will show up at Slammiversary.

Impact still hasn't followed AEW and WWE in using wrestlers to create crowd noise, but somehow it's hardly noticeable. Probably because we're used to no crowd noise at Impact, even when they have a crowd. There's still a match going on, by the way, and it's broken up by commercials.

We're back from commercial, and there's a Deaner in the ring still. Madison Rayne plays up the friendship between Johnny Swinger and Chris Bey. Matthews doesn't think their friendship is real. Jude Terror doesn't care. Matthews is so bored; he's trying to figure out what to call the pattern on Johnny Swinger's singlet. It's obviously rainbow tiger stripes, but Matthews calls it "tie-dye stripe?" You can see why he gets paid to talk for a living. Willie Mack and Phinneas Godwin pick up the win. Bey and Swinger attack them after the match.

Oh, @#$% another Deaner comes out to make the save. Matthews says it's a threesome in the ring and suggests Madison Rayne wants to go join them. I'm telling you, file an HR complaint on this guy, Madison.

Rosemary is breaking social distancing procedures with Johnny Bravo in a bar when Taya Valkerie finds them. At least, theoretically, it's in a bar or restaurant. There's crowd noise in the background as if they're in an establishment, but we never see any other people on camera. Rosemary accuses Taya of abandoning them while she was quarantining. Taya brought her a surprise: it's some kind of dollar store Taya Valkyrie action figure. Rosemary says they have a present for Taya, to establish their dominance in the Knockouts division.

Scott D'Amore is in the ring to give us the big Impact World Championship announcement. He points out how the last scheduled championship match at Rebellion had to be canceled because of coronavirus. Ace Austin won the number one contender's tournament. And Tessa Blanchard still isn't back at work.

Ace Austin's music plays. Austin comes out. He believes D'Amore is going to crown him world champion. Michael Elgin comes out now. He thinks he should be the champion, and Austin will have to deal with him if he wants to be the champ. Elgin delivers the in-ring promo version of his Twitter rants until Eddie Edwards interrupts. Does he, too, have a claim to the championship? Of course, he does.

Austin is sick of this. He demands D'Amore to get on with it and give him the title. He calls him porky. D'Amore admits it's a fitting nickname, but he's still gonna make them fight for the championship. D'Amore turns bright red as he gets fired up about this. There's gonna be a fatal five-way at Slammiverary for the title as Tessa Blanchard defends her title. Austin calls D'Amore senile and says that's only four people. D'Amore tells him to turn around and Trey attacks. There's your Slammiversary main event. Who will come out on top for the right to lose the title to Zack Ryder after he makes his return to Impact? Find out on July 18th! Commercials.

Gia Miller is backstage outside Deonna Purrazzo's locker room. She knocks on the door, but no one answers. She wants to get the scoop, though, so she opens the door. Purrazzo isn't inside. Riveting.

#CancelCulture comes out to the ring. Joseph P. Ryan wants to introduce the world to Jacob Christ. Christ attacked his brother to prove his loyalty and join cancel culture. Ryan wants to make sure no more problematic words are no longer used in Impact Wrestling, such as the word "crazy," so "Jacob is going to teach mentally unwell Steven a lesson." Crazzy Steve comes out to the ring. If #CancelCulture were to trend on Twitter, would they trend as #CancelCulture or ##CancelCulture? Something to think about.

Crist and Steve get down to business. Crist wrestles in rainbow plaid tights and a black button-down shirt. The match is even until Ryan distracts Steve with his iPad. Crist hits a crapload of kicks and gets the three-count. Rob Van Dam and Katie Forbes did nothing the whole time. Collect that paycheck, Rob. You deserve it. Backstage, Jordynne Grace is seen walking in a hallway as we go to commercials.

Impact shows the Slammiversary ad again as Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne sell sell sell. They run down the big matches booked so far, and Matthew says, "We may see [fired WWE superstars] show up here on July 18th!" In a trailer park in Florida, Don West's ears perk up. When duty calls, he will answer the call. He whispers: "what is Burt Tawkins doing in the Impact Zone?"

Taya Valkyrie comes out with Rosemary and Johnny Bravo. It's good to have her back in Impactno offense to the rest of the Knockouts division. But Valkyrie and Jordynne Grace bring a certain level of star power that was missing. Grace comes out, and we have ourselves a Knockouts Championship match.

Rosemary and Bravo at ringside are already adding some ambiance to the show by heckling Grace. Grace attacks Valkyrie before she's ready. Valkyrie bails to the outside with Rosemary and Bravo for a breather. Grace hits a dive on all three, and we head to commercials.

Impact is back from commercials, and I have a strong urge to take something called Lipozene for some reason. Grace has control with Valkyrie in the corner. Grace gives her a good pummeling. Valkyrie tries to escape by crawling through Grace's legs, but Grace catches her. She hits a suplex for two.

Grace whips Valkrie into another corner and slaps her in the tit. Taya fights back with a tit slap of her own. And another one. It's total carnage! Bah gawd! She's broken in half! Grace regains control and hits a belly-to-belly suplex for another two-count. Valkyrie is nearly in tears now. Grace hits Valkyrie with a forearm, and Valkyrie rolls out of the ring.

There's no escape, as Grace follows her. But when Valkyrie rolls back in the ring and Grace follows, Valkyrie hits her with a knee to the face. She's gotten her third offensive move of the match, so it's time to pander to the nonexistent crowd while climbing to the top rope. Grace takes advantage to knock Valkyrie to the floor, and Impact takes advantage of that by running another commercial break.

Back, and Grace is still in control. She hits a sidewalk slam on Taya Valkyrie, who rolls out to the floor again. Grace takes a while to get outside after her, which gives Valkyrie a chance to toss her into the steel stairs. She rolls Grace back in the ring and gets a two count.

Again, after hitting literally one move, Valkyries starts trash talking to the camera. She chokes Grace on the ropes and kicks her on the ground. She hits a running butt strike on Grace in the corner. Then a running double knee. That gets another two-count. Matthews halfheartedly muttered "new champion" during the pin as if he really believed that was the finish.

Valkyrie choked Grace some more. She puts her on the top rope and goes for a superplex. Grace fights back. She hits a sunset flip powerbomb. But Grace is too beat up from those six or seven offensive moves she's taken throughout the match to make the pin. She crawls slowly to her feet. Valkyrie is also selling her ass off. Grace hits a bodyslam, which Matthews mistakes for a powerslam. Grace hits a second bodyslam, but Valkyrie slips out. They trade blows, and Grace tosses Valkyrie shoulder first into the ring post. She hits a running knee in the corner, then another, then a Vader bomb.

Grace goes for the Grace Driver, but Valkyrie fights out. She backs Grace into the corner. Valkyrie goes for a splash and misses, but hits a spear for two. Madison Rayne argues it was more like two and a half. Grace is back to her feet, but Valkyrie hits her with a knee and goes for the Road to Valhalla. Grace fights out and hits a running double axehandle. She puts Valkerie in a sleeper on the ground and locks her legs around her. Valkyrie taps out.

Deanna Purrazzo's music hits and she comes out to the ring to stare down Grace. Matthews: "Headlines being written across everywhere right now." Purrazzo slaps a quick armbar on Grace, and Matthews thinks she may have broken her arm. Purrazzo poses to end the show. So the main event was won with a sleeper hold, and followed up by a run-in with an armbar? I like it. Impact continues to deliver a consistently solid show on Tuesday Nights, and as their roster continues to filter back after the shutdown, it's set to get even better. And then, depending on which WWE rejects Impact signs and pushes at Slammiversary, either even better still or much worse.

A prophecy says that in the comic book industry's darkest days, a hero will come to lead the people through a plague of overpriced floppies, incentive variant covers, #1 issue reboots, and super-mega-crossover events.

Scourge of Rich Johnston, maker of puns, and seeker of the Snyder Cut, Jude Terror, sadly, is not the hero comics needs right now... but he's the one the industry deserves.

twitter envelope globe

More here:
6/9/2020 Impact Wrestling Review - The Calling of Don West - Bleeding Cool News

By Jeff Sistrunk

Law360 is providing free access to its coronavirus coverage to make sure all members of the legal community have accurate information in this time of uncertainty and change. Use the form below to sign up for any of our daily newsletters. Signing up for any of our section newsletters will opt you in to the daily Coronavirus briefing.

Law360 (June 9, 2020, 7:00 PM EDT) -- Insurers and policyholders have weighed in on two petitions to centralize disputes over businesses' coronavirus-related losses in multidistrict litigation, with supporters touting the efficiency of consolidation and opponents arguing that differences in companies' policies and claims make an MDL inappropriate.

From early May through last Friday, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation received 63 responses to the dueling petitions filed by two groups of policyholder plaintiffs, one seeking to centralize the cases in Illinois and the other asking for them to be centralized in Pennsylvania. The JPML is expected to issue a decision on the petitions after it meets in Boston at the end of July.

Of the responses submitted to the JPML, 20 of them all filed by policyholders support some form of coordination. The other 43, filed by a mix of insurers, policyholders and advocates for both, oppose MDL treatment.

Here, Law360 provides a primer on the debate surrounding the MDL petitions.

The Petitioners' Positions

The MDL push dates back to late April, when two groups of businesses affected by COVID-19 shutdown orders filed petitions with the JPML asserting that the business interruption coverage battles in federal court across the country are well-suited for consolidated or coordinated pretrial proceedings. At the time, fewer than 20 cases were pending in federal district courts nationwide; as of Friday, that number had expanded to at least 140 in more than 30 district courts.

In the first petition, filed April 20, a pair of Philadelphia-based restaurants argued that the availability of business interruption coverage in light of the novel coronavirus would be a key question requiring a uniform answer as the country deals with the economic fallout of the pandemic.

"This issue whether business interruption insurance policies will cover losses incurred by businesses forced to shutter their business as a result of the governmental orders is one of national importance and great significance to the ultimate survival of many businesses," the petitioners said. "Addressing this issue in a uniform manner as opposed to potentially disparate treatment by different courts throughout the country helps to serve one of the main purposes" of multidistrict litigation.

The petition asked that cases be centralized before U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Savage of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, who is already presiding over 17 business interruption coverage cases in his district.

"When you look at the mid-Atlantic region, from New York down to D.C., Philadelphia seems to be a natural location," Richard Golomb of Golomb & Honik PC, one of the firms representing the restaurants, told Law360. "Judge Savage is an experienced MDL judge, and very efficient and no-nonsense. He can move a case like this along the way it needs to be moved."

A day later, a group of policyholders in a slew of proposed class actions pending in multiple states filed a second petition to the JPML.

That petition emphasized the importance of coordinating expert witnesses in the cases, as policyholders will need to present "epidemiological modeling of the spread of the virus in order to ascertain its likely presence and impact."

"If these myriad cases were not coordinated for discovery, thousands of plaintiffs would potentially be seeking to retain the same limited pool of epidemiological modelers," the petition said. "Not only would that competition create a costly logistical nightmare for litigants, but that same pool of experts is also needed to help lawmakers fashion the best policies for dealing with the pandemic."

The second group of petitioners suggested the cases be centralized before U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly of the Northern District of Illinois, in Chicago, who is overseeing an MDL regarding cardiovascular issues allegedly caused by a testosterone replacement therapy drug.

Adam Levitt of DiCello Levitt Gutzler LLC, which is among the firms representing the second group of petitioners, told Law360 that centralization before Judge Kennelly would best serve the principles of the MDL system's enabling statute.

"The insurance industry has obviously elected to take an industry-wide position to oppose JPML centralization, and to keep things as fragmented as possible because each insurer thinks that keeping things fragmented is more strategically advantageous. At the end of the day, all of the industry responses tried to argue how fragmented this all is," Levitt said. "The insurance industry traffics in creating confusion. We don't think it is an appropriate argument here, nor do we think it is valid."

Supporters' Stances

The petitioners' calls for an MDL attracted 20 supporting briefs from individual companies or groups of policyholders. While the supporters all argued that centralization can help streamline the resolution of the many COVID-19 business interruption cases, they offered diverse views on where the proceedings should be placed and how they should be structured.

Among the 20 briefs, seven backed the choice of the Northern District of Illinois and five favored the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

In the Illinois camp, for instance, one group of 41 policyholders with cases pending in seven states, dubbed the Truehaven plaintiffs, highlighted the central geographic location of the Prairie State and Judge Kennelly's MDL bona fides. The other supporters of the Illinois proposal plaintiffs in another eight business interruption casesvoiced similar views.

Meanwhile, the proponents of centralization in Pennsylvania comprised of plaintiffs in 38 cases across 11 statesemphasized that Judge Savage is already handling a lot of business interruption cases and that the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has about half as many active cases on its docket as the Northern District of Illinois, 8,704 versus 15,874.

Five other groups of policyholder plaintiffs expressed support for the creation of an MDL based in a single federal court but proposed the respective courts in which they are currently litigating cases. Two groups pitched the Southern District of Florida, and one apiece requested the Western District of Missouri, the Western District of Washington and the Northern District of California.

The remaining three supporting briefs asked the JPML to consider forming not one but multiple MDLs, with cases lumped together either by state, region or insurer defendant.

For example, San Francisco-based children's clothing boutique Mudpie Inc., which is pursuing a proposed class action against a Travelers unit in California federal court, proposed the creation of "a small number of MDLs corresponding with states in which numerous actions, filed by different counsel, are pending before different federal judges in different districts." The retailer said that as of Friday, six states would qualify: California, Illinois, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Texas.

"There are still efficiencies to be gained from an approach to centralization that focuses on litigation hot spots, and the panel should follow that approach to steer such controversies on a prudent course," Mudpie wrote.

Cincinnati-based Belgian restaurant chain Taste of Belgium LLC, which is pursuing a proposed class action against The Cincinnati Insurance Co. in Ohio federal court, suggested it would make sense to create multiple MDLs grouped by insurer, as different insurers' policies may contain substantially different terms.

"All actions brought against a given insurer are based on the same or substantially similar questions of law and fact," Taste of Belgium wrote. "Moreover, transfer will promote the convenience of the parties and efficiency in the pretrial proceedings by eliminating duplicative discovery and the potential for inconsistent rulings, including determinations on class certification."

Opponents' Views

The two MDL petitions also drew strong opposition, with 43 briefs urging the JPML to reject the efforts to combine the nation's business interruption cases.

The insurance industry formed a unified front against centralization. Insurers lodged 29 opposition filings, and the industry's two leading trade groups, the American Property and Casualty Insurance Association and the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, also weighed in against an MDL. But a dozen individual policyholders and groups of policyholder plaintiffs also opposed consolidated or coordinated proceedings, as did the nonprofit advocacy group United Policyholders.

The opposition briefs generally argued that an MDL would be an inappropriate vehicle for resolving insurance cases, given the differences in insurers' policy language, policyholders' losses during the pandemic and states' laws on the requirements for business interruption insurance.

In a brief joined by 10 other insurance groups, Chubb Ltd. units Westchester Surplus Lines Insurance Co. and Indemnity Insurance Co. of North America contended that combined proceedings would create a logistical nightmare. They pointed out that, while more than 100 insurers are facing suits around the country, only 5% of them have been named as defendants in more than five actions, and most have been named in only one or two cases.

"Every insurer would need (and have a right) to be heard on every issue including discovery and other pretrial rulings affecting it," Westchester and IINA wrote. "The transferee court could not effectively implement a bellwether process, given the lack of overlapping parties among the cases. Resolution of one case would not resolve any other. The resulting proceeding would be unmanageable and delay would be inevitable."

A Chubb spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

APCIA and NAMIC similarly argued that an MDL could produce delays.

"In view of the extraordinary circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the parties, courts, and public would be better served by permitting resolution of these cases in their home courts on their individual merits," the trade groups argued.

James Martin of Zelle LLP, who represents APCIA and NAMIC, told Law360 in a statement, "The brief speaks for itself in setting forth why our clients firmly believe that a nationwide federal MDL is not appropriate for these types of matters."

United Policyholders' brief encapsulated the concerns expressed by the policyholder plaintiffs that filed opposition briefs, asserting that there is no "cookie-cutter" scenario for a business interruption claim over losses tied to the COVID-19 pandemic and saying that forcing smaller companies to litigate in courts far removed from their home states would impose undue financial burdens.

"From the beginning, we have been saying you cannot lump all these together, because the policy language is all over the map, different businesses have unique challenges and losses, and insurance is regulated on the state not federal level," United Policyholders executive director Amy Bach told Law360. "We knew it would be a balancing act between judicial efficiency and fairness, having each case resolved on its merits."

--Editing by Brian Baresch and Michael Watanabe.

For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.

Read more:
A Primer On The Push To Combine COVID-19 Coverage Cases - Law360