Genesis (2021)
Promotional poster
Promotion	Impact Wrestling
Date	January 9, 2021
City	Nashville, Tennessee
Venue	Skyway Studios
Attendance	0 (behind closed doors)[Note 1]
Impact Plus Monthly Specials chronology
← Previous Final Resolution Next → No Surrender
Genesis chronology
← Previous 2018 Next → —

The 2021 Genesis was a professional wrestling event produced by Impact Wrestling and the 12th edition in the Genesis chronology. It took place on January 9, 2021, at Skyway Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, and aired exclusively on Impact Plus.

Nine matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Willie Mack defeated Moose in an "I Quit" Match. In other prominent matches, Jordynne Grace defeated Jazz and Ace Austin defeated Blake Christian to win the 2021 Super X Cup Tournament.

In 2013, Impact Wrestling (then known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling) discontinued monthly pay-per-view events in favor of the pre-recorded One Night Only events. Genesis was produced as a PPV from 2005 to 2013, but in 2014, Genesis was televised as an Impact Wrestling television special until 2018. On December 12, 2020, it was revived as a monthly special for Impact Plus, with that year's event taking place on December 12 at Skyway Studios in Nashville, Tennessee.^[1][2]

The event featured professional wrestling matches that involve different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches.^[3]

A main feature of the show was the 2021 Super X Cup tournament,^[4] which has been sporadically held in Impact Wrestling since the company's formation in 2002. The winner will receive the Super X Cup trophy, and winning the Super X Cup has historically been portrayed as a stepping stone to becoming a top contender for the Impact Wrestling X Division Championship. On the December 21 episode of Impact, the brackets were revealed.^[5] Competitors included Impact stars (Ace Austin, Cousin Jake, Crazzy Steve, Daivari, and Suicide) and independent wrestlers (Blake Christian, KC Navarro, and Tre Lamar).

At Turning Point, Willie Mack defeated self-proclaimed TNA World Heavyweight Champion Moose by disqualification after Moose repeatedly landed forearm shots on an unconscious Mack after the match.^[6] The two have been in a feud that included Mack's best friend, Impact World Champion Rich Swann, who Moose called a "secondary champion". Moose would repeatedly perform the same action of the Turning Point conclusion on Mack, including a No Disqualification match the Impact after Turning Point;^[7] and a tag team match on the go-home show before Final Resolution, where Mack and Swann battled Moose and Chris Bey.^[8] On the December 15 episode of Impact, Moose, who again called out Swann, instead got Mack. Furious about a referee deciding when he was done, Mack challenged Moose to an "I quit" match so that he decides when he's done. The same night, IMPACT announced via their website that the match will happen at Genesis.^[9]

After weeks of trying to find a compatible tag team partner, Jordynne Grace revealed on the November 24 Impact her partner for the Impact Knockouts Tag Team Championship Tournament, former WWE Women's Champion and NWA World Women's Champion Jazz.^[10] This would become the start of Jazz's retirement tour going through 2021.^[11] The duo would debut as a team on December 1, defeating Killer Kelly and Renee Michelle in the first round,^[12] but fell to Havok and Nevaeh on January 4.^[13] Backstage, Jazz and Grace would have a talk, with Grace apologizing for having Jazz postpone retirement to fall up short, but Jazz assured her she regrets nothing. Seeing as how Jazz had more to prove, Grace challenged Jazz to a match at Genesis, and Jazz accepted.^[14]

The opening match was a first round bout in the Super X Cup tournament between Ace Austin (with Madman Fulton) and Suicide. Suicide gets the early advantage with side headlocks and a shoulder tackle, with Austin using his signature card to slice Suicide's fingers, but is unaffected due to wearing gloves. Suicide reverses an irish whip attempt into an Octopus hold on Austin before rolling him up for a near fall. Suicide avoids a dive attempt by Austin, gets distracted by Fulton while attempting his own dive, but goes onto the apron to hit Austin with a rolling senton. Austin sends Suicide into the steel steps and continues the beat down in the ring. Suicide gets the better of Austin with open-palm strikes, avoids a roundhouse kick, and hits a dropkick into the corner for a two count. Austin gets out of Suicide's suplex attempt and hits the springboard roundhouse kick for two, before laying some mounted punches. Suicide delivers an electric chair facebuster followed by a double foot stomp for another two count. Suicide heads up top to hit a diving crossbody that Austin rolls through into a near fall. Suicide counters a tornado DDT into a brainbuster onto Austin for another near fall. Fulton distracts Suicide to allow Austin to hit a knee to the head, followed by "The Fold" to win.^[15][16][17]

Next, Blake Christian fought against KC Navarro. Both men lock up and push each other into the corner before a clean break. They trade side headlocks and flips in an attempt to one up each other, with Navarro planting strikes on Christian who answers with a wheel kick, followed by a roll-up for two. Christian delivers a snapmare and a dropkick to the head for another two count, forcing Navarro to roll outside the ring. Navarro brings Christian to the outside, and goes back into the ring to hit a suicide dive. Back in the ring, Navarro stomps on Christian before hitting running blows in the corner, followed by a double foot stomp for two. Christian escapes Navarro's submission hold with a donkey kick and lands an enzuigiri, hits a springboard dropkick followed by a 619, and delivers a corkscrew onto the floor. Navarro regains control in the ring, hitting a running punt kick from the apron, and landing a twisting neckbreaker for a near fall. Christian delivers a Death Valley driver and a superkick, followed by a standing shooting star press for another near fall. Navarro catches Christian on the top rope and attempts a superplex, but Christian hits a sunset flip powerbomb and goes back up top to hit "Air Blake" for the win.^[15][16][17]

The third match saw Cousin Jake against Daivari. Daivari lands some clubbing blows to the back and corner chops, before Jake hits a body block after Daivari runs around him. Jake tosses Daivari out of the ring, and brawls with him at ringside. Jake sets Daivari on the apron, who avoids his charge attempt, and catches his neck on the ropes. Back in the ring, Daivari goes after Jake's neck with chokes and a neckbreaker for two. Daivari keeps Jake grounded with elbows to the neck, a knee to the spine, and a dropkick to the back of the head. Daivari sends Jake to the outside and slams him into the steel steps, but only gets a two count in the ring. Daivari applies a body scissors and a sleeper onto Jake, who elbows his way out of it, but gets chopped in the corner. Jake lands a clothesline on Daivari that has both of them down. Both men rise as Jake hits Daivari with clotheslines and a running spear in the corner, followed by a Michinoku driver for two. Jake lands a sit-out powerbomb on Daivari for a near fall, who answers back with a DDT on Jake for another near fall. Daivari goes after Jake's legs to apply a figure-four leglock, but Jake grabs the ropes. Jake catches Daivari with the Black Hole Slam and advances to the next round.^[15][16][17]

The fourth and final first round match of the tournament involved Crazzy Steve and Tre Lamar. Lamar gets weirded out by Steve's mind games, where he licks him after a reversal, scares him out of the ring after a rope run fake out and gets spooked by his monkey. Lamar gets back in the ring and lands a Pele kick on Steve, who goes to the outside. Lamar delivers kicks and forearms to Steve both in and out of the ring, and lands a back elbow for two. Lamar stomps on Steve and applies a rear naked choke, before switching to an armbar, and lands a dropkick to the back of the head for a two count. Both men are on the second rope, with Lamar going for a Spanish fly, but Steve hits a side Russian legsweep that takes them both down. They rise to their feet and trade blows, Lamar getting the better of the exchange, but Steve lands another side Russian legsweep into a submission. Lamar misses a springboard crossbody, and Steve lands a diving DDT for the win.^[15][16][17]

The semi-finals of the tournament began with Ace Austin (with Madman Fulton) taking on Cousin Jake.^[15][16][17]

In the other semi-final round match, Blake Christian went up against Crazzy Steve.^[15][16][17]

The seventh match saw Jazz versus Jordynne Grace.^[15][16][17]

In the penultimate match, Ace Austin and Blake Christian compete in the finals of the Super X Cup tournament.^[15][16][17]

In the main event, Moose took on Willie Mack in an "I Quit" match.^[15][16][17]

Robert Winnfree of 411Mania reviewed the event and gave it a 7 out of 10, which was lower than 2018's event that got a 7.3 out of 10.^[18] He praised the Super X Cup final and the "I Quit" match, but felt the show came across as "weekly Impact TV", suffering from pacing and "no connective tissue" to ongoing storylines.^[15] Erik Beaston of Bleacher Report praised Moose-Mack for being "a hard-hitting, super physical match" but questioned the logic behind Moose getting his world title opportunity being "a bit convoluted, to say the least." He felt the Super X Cup final was "a great reminder of just how good Austin is this early in his career" and that Christian elevated himself throughout the tournament. In his critique of the Knockouts bout, he found Jazz a bit past her prime but felt she was "pretty damn good" and "showed flashes of the badass former champion" from WWE and the independent circuit, and proclaimed Grace as "a star of the future for Impact or whichever company she may take her talents to."^[16] Bob Kapur of Slam Wrestling gave the event 4 out of 5 stars, writing: "[T]his was almost like two shows in one, with the first half underdelivering, and the last three being really strong. Some people will likely criticize the ending of the main event, but it was a good match and it helped drive the plot. And, in the end, that's what these Impact+ specials should be doing – supplementing the weekly TV shows to further angles rather than substituting for PPVs, which should be used for ending them. From that standpoint, it worked well."^[19]

• Impact Wrestling Official Website