Impact Wrestling recent Sacrifice pay per view has now set the tone going into their next major show, April 24th’s Rebellion and beyond. At Rebellion’s main event, the unified Impact World Champion Rich Swann will face AEW World Champion Kenny Omega in a title vs. title match.
This marks the first match for the heavyweight championships for two separate companies at least in my modern memory. Not since the old territory days have we seen this kind of inter-promotional collaboration.
While Swann made history when he rolled up Moose (the recently recognized TNA World Heavyweight Champion) for the win and unifying the two titles of this company’s two decades long history, the rest of the card yielded enough change and stability that will keep Impact’s momentum going forward. It’s not like Impact will ever compete on an equal footing with AEW or WWE in the ratings war, but the company has enough of a dedicated and loyal following to keep it’s name in the conversation.
On the go home Impact show before Sacrifice, we saw all the champions in the Knockout division standing tall over their respective challengers, signalling perhaps a future alliance in development. This was very indicative of how Sacrifice would conclude; all the female champions retained their titles in convincing fashion. The fact that Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz defeated a former Impact Knockouts Champion and a legend like Jazz, as well as Deonna Purrazzo putting down ODB, says something about what talent this company is investing in for the future.
But while we got stability, we also saw enough change to boost the brand. Ace Austin successfully captured the X Division Championship for the second time in an exciting contest against TJP, but the real shock of the night were former IWGP Tag Team Champions Juice Robinson and David Finlay (known as ‘FinJuice’) defeating the Good Brothers after a Legion of Doom-like devastation device on Karl Anderson.
It’s not the first time a wrestler has held a mid-card or non-world title from another company; I’m thinking of Jon Moxley as the IWGP United States Champion or MLW’s Lio Rush also holding the AAA Cruiserweight Championship. But the Good Brothers have been a dominant force on Impact as a tag team looking almost untouchable, and they are currently embroiled in a storyline with Moxley and Eddie Kingston over on AEW alongside their buddy Omega. Seeing the Big LG and Machine Gun eat a clean pinfall like that, especially against a team not very well known to an American and western audience, brings questions on how the GB will move forward.
Would they be looking at the AEW Tag Team Championships, being held by their good buddies Matt and Nick Jackson, next?
My guess for this title change is it’s not so much as FinJuice’s history with Gallows and Anderson, however little we know of it, but it was a way to solidify the Impact / New Japan partnership by having one of their tag teams (at least two American wrestlers from the Japan side) snag Impact titles. I am looking forward to seeing what they do with this team as Impact Tag Champions.
Overall, the show was a good way for Impact to continue building their momentum in 2021 with these partnerships or increased on screen programs with AEW down the road. No matter who won the main event, no one would have much to complain whether Swann or Moose ended up facing Omega at Rebellion. Frankly, it’s more predictable now to imagine Omega coming up as the victor on April 24, which will lead to a build of Moose hunting for “his championship” over on AEW which will lead to Moose finally becoming Impact World Champion.
An average professional doing the 9-5 grind who really loves wrestling across all platforms. Here's hoping wrestlers finally get some basic workers rights in 2021.
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