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The April 13 live edition of IZW Adrenaline was another high stakes event as right from the get-go Impact Elite was backstage and IZW Champion “The Natural Born Leader” Johnny Z and Madam Commissioner Erica went back and forth on who to keep and who to fire from IE. Z wanted to get rid of Big Business and he threw down the gauntlet for later in the night, when Big Business was scheduled to face IZW Tag Team Champions, The Birds of Prey. Win and BB stays in Impact Elite. Lose and they’re out.
To start off the in ring action, Double D and “The Worst in the World” Copycat squared off. Double D got the better of the exchanges in the early going as he was quicker in the clinch and able to lock up headlocks while Copy just seemed to get irritated. But then the powerhouse, Copycat went to work as he hit D with a kick to the stomach and a double ax handle to the spine followed by more kicks to the midsection. D quickly turned the tables with a nicely placed elbow on Copycat’s jaw, two knife edged chops and a drop kick. It was back and forth as Double D and Copycat traded moves, with Copy going outside the rulebook by grinding D’s eyes along the ropes and also choking him with the ropes. A spinning heel kick and hurricanrana from the top rope had D back in control. Later, Copycat took away D’s aerial attacks, by securing a tight headlock on the mat. Copycat continued his assault with a body slam and steamroller as he barked at the crowd who showered him with a chorus of boos. Copycat then took a page out of D’s book and landed a few knees to the face in the corner, but that was where he made his mistake as Double D reversed the position and showed him what knees to the face were all about as he hit Copy with ten in a row. D missed with a flying cross body and Copycat went back on the attack. Copy and D traded chops until Copy hit a bulldog and knee drop. A Copycat flying cross body attempt was met with a Force chop by D that sent Copy down hard. D then planted a flying cross body square on Copycat getting the pinfall.
Copycat’s night wasn’t over as Damien Morte came down to the ring and they put on quite a slugfest as punches rained from all directions as these two where both out for blood. The fight spilled outside of the ring where more beatings were dished out until finally both men tumbled back into the ring and Morte gave Copycat a bit of his own medicine by hitting Copy’s finisher, the Doppelganger right in the middle of the ring.
Next up, was Big Business (Kevin Morgan & Damon Windsor), with their position in Impact Elite at stake, taking on IZW Tag Champions Birds of Prey (Falcon & Phoenix). The Birds started off hot winning the power struggle over BB with slams and suplexes. Phoenix punished Morgan with dropkicks and leg drops as the Bird kept the “Image of War” grounded on the mat. As Phoenix went for his finisher, the Phoenix-sault, Windsor grabbed him from behind, disrupting the move as BB was ready to do whatever needed to be done to save their spot in Impact Elite. Windsor and Morgan took turns taking the air out of Phoenix’s sail as their teamwork was impeccable. Two clotheslines by Morgan dropped Phoenix, but a wounded Phoenix managed to tag in his partner, Falcon, and that changed the bout dramatically. Falcon hit both members of BB with his Falcon punch as the big men crumbled to the ground. As Falcon waited for a broken Morgan to rise to his feet, Windsor came from behind and hit Falcon with the Tag Team belt, catching the ire of Falcon. But the quick thinking Windsor noticing that Falcon was not hurt at all instead threw the belt to his opponent and feigned injury as if it were him that was hit with the tag belt. Windsor’s acting and shenanigans got the gullible referee to see things his way as the Birds of Prey were disqualified! Not only did Big Business pick up the win, but more importantly they saved their spot with Impact Elite.
Up next was the second round of the Impact Player of the Year Tournament as “The Bronze Bull” Aaron Neil went to war with “Lights Out” Jordan Jacobs. Neil took the fight to Jacobs as he won the lock ups and also chopped the hell out of Jacobs knocking him to the mat as Jacobs came off the ropes to add extra force to the move. Jacobs recovered from Neil’s attacks as he landed a drop kick and a double knee in the corner to the 6-time IZW Champion finally getting the bigger man off his feet. Jacobs pulled out all the stops as he even tore his hand tape off at one point and choked Neil with it, doing everything he could think of, legal or not, to keep the stronger man on the defensive. Jacobs worked over Neil with more kicks to the head and then whipped him into the ropes where he looked for a hurricanrana, but when Neil defended the move, Jacobs turned it into a crossface submission attempt as he had Neil down on the mat once again. In a feat of incredible strength, Neil lifted Jacobs up, with the submission still intact, side slamming Jacobs down to the mat and breaking the hold. The injured Neil then landed a spear on Jacobs, but it would not keep Jacobs down for a 3-count. Jacobs fought back with a modified twister that put excruciating pressure on Neil’s spine and already injured arm. After some stiff kicks to Neil’s chest, Jacobs tried a flying double knees from the top rope, but Neil caught Jacobs in midair. Neil slammed Jacobs down hard with a spinebuster and then nearly bent him in half with a Boston Crab. Jacobs was ready to tapout, but then The Convict came out from behind the curtain. Neil wasted no time and took the fight to The Convict as they battled on the ramp with Neil landing fists of fury that bounced off The Convicts head and torso. During the skirmish outside of the ring, the ref had begun to count out Neil and made it to ten, which gave the victory to “Mr. Young Talent” himself Jordan Jacobs as he advanced in the tourney. Neil and The Convict continued their battle inside of the ring at this point with The Convict getting the upper hand and landing a 15 to 20 putting Neil down and out. This was a double loss for Neil as he is now out of the Impact Player of the Year Tournament and got decimated by The Convict for good measure.
Next up, Bryan Cruize of the Old School Assassins took on the returning Striker. After some quick thinking by Striker, he took Cruize off his feet with a side headlock as he cranked away on Cruize’s neck. A huge backdrop, clothesline and hip toss later and Cruize was seeing double as Striker was in total control. But after Cruize sidestepped a running spear by Striker which ended with Striker slamming full force into the ring post and falling out of the ring, Cruize was now back in the match. At one point, Cruize jumped backwards from the second rope landing a perfect elbow on Striker’s jaw reminding everyone in the Impact Arena that he is that rare wrestler that possesses both great strength and athleticism. But Striker was not to be outdone as later in the match he climbed to the second rope and did a flipping face buster on Cruize driving Cruize’s face into the mat with remarkable force. This seemed to wake Cruize up as he wanted to make a statement at Striker’s expense as he hit a modified flipping DDT (Cruizing for a bruising) followed by a swinging neck breaker for the pinfall. Striker’s night went from bad to worse as another wrestler made his return to IZW as the Canadian Red Devil showed up and put the already injured Striker in the Canadian Clutch (Texas Cloverleaf). After the submission hold, Devil grabbed a microphone and lit into anything and everything that was American. He had the fans riled up by letting them know, in his opinion, what was wrong with America.
In the main event, Impact Division Champion Damien Morte took on “The Leader of the Hype Section” Jermaine Johnson in a non-title match. Morte came out of the gate with right hands that found their mark on Johnson’s face, but Johnson picked up Morte in a press slam position and tossed him onto the top rope where Morte’s nether region took the brunt of the punishment. With Morte stuck in a precarious position, Johnson bounced the rope up and down increasing Morte’s pain tenfold. But even an injury to the crotch couldn’t hold Morte down for long as he was right back to his feet in no time and hit a suicide dive on Johnson who was now on the outside of the ring. Morte’s pain tolerance is second to none. Once back in the ring, Johnson landed a perfect suplex followed by kicks in the corner with the topper being a spinning back kick that hit Morte right in the solar plexus. But Morte would eventually recover and look to hit an Oregon Trail from the second rope (back summersault) but Johnson moved out of the way at the last millisecond. A side slam by Johnson was followed by a failed attempt at a top rope backwards flip as Morte gave Johnson a bit of his own medicine and took out a leg, as Johnson landed crotch first on the turnbuckle. Morte then connected with a running, sliding elbow as Johnson was defenseless and hanging upside down with his feet caught in the ropes. Morte continued with more high risk moves as he attempted a springboard from the top rope but was reversed into a sit down power bomb by Johnson. In the final series of moves, Morte hit Johnson with a wicked DDT that looked like it could have broken his neck. Morte then made his way to the ropes while mocking Johnson and looking to deliver Johnson’s finisher the ES2. Johnson moved out of the way as Morte crashed to the mat giving Johnson enough time to partially recover and hit his trademark ES2 showing Morte how it was done and picking up the pinfall.
After the match, Johnson grabbed the microphone and took his message to the people. For starters he let everyone know he was now interrupting the Official Crowning of Johnny Z as IZW Champion. Next, an impassioned Johnson listed every Superstar to ever hold the IZW Title; O’Malley, Aaron Neil, Big Van Vader, Michael Barry, Tommy Revell, Angel Williams, Kevin Morgan, Jermaine Johnson and Double D. Johnson purposely left the Convict off the list, saying if he was stupid enough to give away the title that all the other wrestlers had bled and broke bones for that he didn’t deserve to be mentioned. Johnson then demanded Johnny Z show himself because what needed to be said next, needed to be said to Z’s face! Z made his way to the ring with Erica and The Convict in tow.
If it was a verbal battle Johnson wanted, it was what he got as Johnny Z lit into Johnson by justifying his recent actions as something that was necessary because of years of Z hearing people in the back, like Johnson, bitch and complain that Johnny Z was not the man. Z then drove the point home even further by getting face to face with Johnson and letting him know that IZW was Z’s company. In Z’s opinion, he built it, he owns it and he made it. And if he wants to be IZW Champion, there isn’t a damn thing Johnson or anyone else in the back can do about it. Johnson then had his reply and let Johnny Z know the reason Johnson believed Z never made it to the top was because he just wasn’t good enough! Johnson listed the Monsters Bash Battle Royal and the Impact Player of the Year Tournament as ways to earn a title shot, something Z has never done. Instead, in Johnson’s opinion, Z used legal paperwork (The Convict’s parole review papers), a big dumb jock (The Convict), and a bitch (Erica) to take the championship. Johnson then went on to make HIS announcement. Johnson spoke with Shawn McHale and that McHale’s informed Johnson that his contract is ironclad and his is still indeed the Co-Commissioner of IZW and that next week, McHale would be back in the Impact Arena to let Johnny Z know what awaits him at Coronation on May 11. But Z upped the ante and decided to make an announcement about Coronation right then and there. Z was resigned to hearing from McHale in a week, but in the meantime, in between time, Z fired Jermaine Johnson on the spot! McHale might have an ironclad contract as Co-Commissioner of IZW, but Johnson’s contract doesn’t have those same rights and is not protected like that. Johnson is gone from IZW as Johnny Z got the final word of the night! Johnson went into a frenzy and had to be escorted out of the building by security as the fans in the Impact Arena were left stunned by the recent turn of events.
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