Impact Wrestling: Brian Cage Wins World Title, Attacked By Michael Elgin

Impact Wrestling Rebellion is in the books, and the landscape of Impact Wrestling has been drastically changed. The main event saw the reigning champion Johnny Impact defend against Brian Cage, and the chaos didn’t stop when the match ended.

Impact Wrestling Rebellion had several titles on the line, including Impact World Champion Johnny Impact defending his title against “The Machine” Brian Cage. The issues between these two men are well documented, and have been getting more and more personal since their first clash back at Homecoming.

Due to the frequently corrupt officiating of former Impact Senior Official John E. Bravo, this contest saw a Canadian legend take on the role of Special Guest Referee. Lance Storm was the man to fill that spot, and he proved to be the perfect choice.

Johnny Impact did everything he could to retain his championship, and he wasn’t doing it alone. Taya Valkyrie, who had retained her Impact Knockouts Championship earlier in the night against Jordynne Grace, and John E. Bravo were both at ringside supporting Johnny Impact.

Despite Lance Storm’s best efforts to keep control throughout, there was a period where he got knocked to the outside. With Storm down, Impact tried to take advantage by nailing Brian Cage with the title. He followed it with Starship Pain and John E. Bravo slid into the ring, tearing off his jacket to reveal a referee shirt.

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Bravo counted, but Cage somehow kicked out. Not that it would have mattered though, as Bravo was not a recognized official for the match and his decision would not have stood. Lance Storm found his way back into the ring, even taking out John E. Bravo with a pristine superkick.

With all the shenanigans, Storm was about to disqualify Johnny Impact, but Cage stopped him. Brian Cage knew a disqualification wouldn’t have made him champion, and he still had a shot. Cage kept things going, finally planting Johnny with the Drill Claw to earn the count of three.

After all the controversy and struggle, Brian Cage is finally the Impact World Champion. He had his moment, but it didn’t last long. As Cage celebrated, we suddenly saw Michael Elgin walk out onto the ramp.

While this was the first time we’ve ever seen Michael Elgin in Impact Wrestling, he’s no rookie. Elgin is a 15-year veteran who has held the NJPW NEVER Openweight Championship, IWGP Intercontinental Championship, and ROH World Championship.

He’s also got history with Brian Cage, previously holding the PWG Tag Team Titles along with The Machine. Elgin stared down the new champion for a moment, but suddenly stunned him with a spinning backfist before laying him out with a spinning sitout powerbomb.

Brian Cage is the new Impact World Champion, but it was Michael Elgin who left Impact Wrestling Rebellion standing tall over the champ. As exciting as it might be on the surface for a veteran of ROH and NJPW to show up in Impact Wrestling, it’s also another questionable decision by Impact Wrestling.

At last month’s United We Stand event, they put ECW-alumni Sabu on the card despite Sabu’s history of unapologetically using homophobic and racial slurs. As for Michael Elgin, he’s still embroiled in a lawsuit over his mishandling of sexual assault allegations against a former student of his by a fan.

However as far as Impact Wrestling is concerned, just as Sabu’s history wasn’t a disqualifier for his involvement in United We Stand, Michael Elgin’s history wasn’t a disqualifier to have him lay out the new Impact World Champion and enter the company firmly poised to head up the main event scene. Impact Wrestling’s next set of television tapings will start tomorrow night, and it looks like we can expect Michael Elgin to be a staple of the company for the foreseeable future.