SACRIFICE.
If there is one word, eight letters that bond every single professional wrestler who has ever lived and will ever live, it is the word Sacrifice. From the hours spent in the ring training, to the punishment placed on their body, to the stress of a life on the road to the sadness spent in mental and emotional solitude after a setback, every single one of these unique men and women live with the scars of their sacrifice daily.
Whether they win or lose on that given day, the sacrifice remains with them. It matures them, calluses them, evolves them. It forces them forward, even in the darkest moments when it threatens to envelop them. Sacrifice is the name of the game when it comes to all combat sports, but when you a professional wrestler, it becomes tattooed on your soul from the very second you first dedicate yourself to this life, because no matter what, great or terrible, you never stop sacrificing and you are forever changed when you place yourself into the mental and physical combat that is professional wrestling.
The stars of Impact Wrestling know of Sacrifice. They have given of themselves to claim the greatest of victories and the grandest of championships in one given moment and then have stumbled from those apex peaks into the darkness below, forced to re-evaluate and start anew. The strive to be the best comes hand in hand with sacrifice and this Friday live on FITE, Impact Wrestling's Sacrifice live from Windsor, Ontario in Canada will see a collection of some of professional wrestling's finest athletes look to attain their own reckoning, championship titles and revenge at Sacrifice 2023.
This Friday's Sacrifice broadcast on FITE will feature the following dream matches and grudge matches:
DREAM TAG TEAM ENCOUNTER: TIME MACHINE VS. ALEXANDER & KAZARIAN & SWANN
So often in the madcap, unpredictable world of professional wrestling, grudges flare and the in-ring physicality is built on an unrelenting anger between two sides to destroy the other. For once, this is, thankfully, not the case. Instead, the theme of Sacrifice presents itself in the main event this Friday by the sheer fact that six of the best professional wrestlers in the world are going to step into the squared circle seeking to achieve victory by proving themselves to be the dominant athletes. It's a matter of respect, a moment of pride, a chance to be inscribed within the history books for all time.
Time Machine, made up of not one, but two of the greatest tag team of this era, KUSHIDA and Alex Shelley - New Japan Pro Wrestling's The Time Splitters - and Shelley and Chris Sabin, the Motor City Machine Guns, have united to show the entire world that they are the greatest trios combination ever created. A fully perfect professional wrestling machine, they combine all their international exploits into tag team excellence.
If there is a Trios combination, however, that can be dubbed a dream team, it's their opponents at Sacrifice live on FITE on March 24th. Impact Wrestling World Champion Josh Alexander has never been a better competitor inside the ring than he is right now. His wars with Moose, Bully Ray, Christian Cage, Mike Bailey and others have sharpened his skills like molten hot iron and his unrelenting push to continue to prove himself has led to Alexander stepping into this week's main event, spearheading the charge for Impact Wrestling once again.
One of the men who has pushed him to the brink and forced the champion to continue to evolve is another Impact Wrestling World Champion, Rich Swann. Swann has been fighting valiantly to return to his former perch as the man in Impact and his recent battles against Alexander have only bonded them deeper with respect for the other. They will be joined by Frankie Kazarian, a groundbreaking Impact Original who has returned to the promotion with one goal in mind - to become the World Champion himself. Like Swann, he and Alexander have taken each other to the limit in combat, ascending each of them to a higher plane of existence inside the ring.
Will these three stellar competitors be able to overcome Time Machine, or will their united, singular goal to be the best professional wrestler in the world be their undoing against an international Trio that have merged into one of the greatest professional wrestling machines of all time? What will be sacrificed for the victors to have their hands raised at the end of the night?
Only FITE fans will know live as it happens - for those match is the epitome of Sacrifice, six of the best professional wrestlers in the world clashing to prove their supremacy by putting everything on the line, all or nothing, to showcase their talents and everything they have given to the sport in order to excel.
BUSTED OPEN MATCH: DREAMER VS. BULLY TAKE IT TO THE EXTREME
One has to wonder if Tommy Dreamer, if caught in a private moment of reflection, ever truly believed that Bully Ray could have changed his stripes. Did Dreamer really, actually believe in Ray? This was, after all, the man who purposely broke the neck of Dreamer's wife Beulah McGuillicuty all those years ago on a fateful night in New Orleans. This was the man who inflicted so many injuries and ripped open so many scars on Dreamer's body over the decades. If one wants to see the very definition of Sacrifice, it's etched across Dreamer in physical, mental and emotional trauma, autographed in crimson by Bully Ray.
All those years and all those twists and turns have led everyone to this week's Impact Wrestling Sacrifice event live on FITE as Dreamer and Bully Ray battle in a Busted Open match. Named for the SiriusXM Radio Show that regularly features each of them as co-hosts, this battle could very well be the end of a long, winding road to ruin that has engulfed each of these extreme warriors. This Friday at Sacrifice, they go to extreme warfare yet again, where the object is to bust the other opponent open. For two combatants who have let the crimson flow like fine red wine over the years, there is no telling how out of control and over the top this battle will be once it commences on FITE this Friday.
MICKIE VS. JORDYNNE: KNOCKOUTS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Since the Last Rodeo, Mickie James has been flying high on her success and championship victory, but if there's one true lasting statement in the world of professional wrestling, it's that everyone who achieves their dreams will eventually face their nightmares. For James, that nightmare could very well be this Friday in Windsor as she has to contend with the woman she defeated for Knockouts World Championship, Jordynne Grace.
Grace's unrelenting intensity is the stuff of legend, competing full time with a grueling in-ring schedule while also chasing down competitive powerlifting aspirations. Over the last several years, Grace has very much become the center of the Knockouts universe, bringing some of the most hard-hitting championship defenses to the Impact masses. This Friday on FITE, it will be a determined, angry Grace seeking to erase the blemish of her loss to James. While Mickie's Last Rodeo saw James ride off into the sunset victorious, what happens when once again, these two stellar combatants face off at High Noon for one of the biggest Knockouts rematches since the formative days of the division as defined by Awesome Kong vs. Gail Kim?
It will be the veteran finesse of Mickie James against the unrelenting power of Jordynne Grace this Friday, live on FITE!
PURE WRESTLING GREATNESS: GRESHAM VS. SPEEDBALL II
Impact Wrestling's Sacrifice this Friday on FITE will have a full display of what exactly the greatest professional wrestlers in the world sacrifice every time they enter the squared circle, giving all of their physical and emotional prowess in an attempt to not just wow the audience worldwide but to to attain their greatest victories.
After a tremendous encounter at No Surrender, Sacrifice this Friday in Windsor will feature the mind-bending excellence of Jonathan Gresham vs. Speedball Mike Bailey as they clash yet again inside an Impact Wrestling ring. These two master chessmen are seeking to defeat the other to prove their honor and valor while ascending the ladder towards the Impact World and X-Division Championships. Gresham, one of the greatest ROH World Champions in recent years will once again take on Bailey, who between Impact, GCW and all points in between, may have put together the greatest collection of performances inside the ring of 2022 and 2023 combined.
Steel sharpens steel and it will be impossible to predict who ends victorious when two combat sports artists step into the ring this Friday trying to out-think and out-flank the other with a global FITE audience watching live as it happens.
A MATTER OF REVENGE: DEONNA VS. GISELE
The Virtuosa Deonna Purrazzo is usually one of the great antagonists within an Impact Wrestling ring, breaking bones and claiming championships. It really would have to take someone of a true sinister degree to make the Impact faithful side with Purrazzo, but Gisele Shaw, the self-proclaimed Black Widow of Impact, has done just that.
Gisele, who admittedly seems to possess the poison pill that has led to the destruction of a number of Knockouts competitors and their tag teams, including the duo of the now departed Chelsea Green and Purrazzo. When Gisele decided to proudly crow about the exit of Green, it sparked an anger in Purrazzo, the likes of which we've never seen before during her Impact exploits. Before, even in her most dangerous form, Deonna was fighting for herself; now she was fighting for something larger - the chance to beat respect into Shaw.
This Friday, Deonna gets her chance, but will have to contend with the savagery of Savannah Evans and the cunning of Jai Vidal, who will accompany Gisele Shaw. Purrazzo just needs one moment to snatch an arm and snap it to force a submission - but whether she's willing to let go is another question altogether…
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES, CHAMPIONSHIP GLORY?
There will be championship matches as well when Impact Wrestling invades Windsor this Friday live on FITE.
X-Division Champion Trey Miguel has promised to defend the prestigious championship against a worthy contender. While there have been rumors floating that this will be an international star in recent hours, FITE and the world still await the official unveiling of the challenger….
Then, Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry, who has seemingly run Matt Cardona off the Impact shores, steps into the ring with long-time Cardona cohort and one of the most underrated veterans in the world, Brian Myers. Can Myers' Roster Cut take Hendry down and wipe out all the momentum (and songs) that the Scottish star has brought over the last year to Impact? FITE fans will witness live who exits as the King of all Digital Media this Friday!
Every single pro wrestler sacrifices for their craft, but only a select few get to do so with the entire world watching their every move. This Friday, once again, Impact Wrestling raises the bar as their talents ascend upward into legendary status, live for the world to see, only on FITE!
Mike Johnson is the lead reporter for PWInsider.com and has been writing about professional wrestling since 1996. He can be found on Twitter @MikePWInsider and MikeJohnsonWrites.com.
