This may have been the first Impact Wrestling that moved back to its traditional home on Thursday nights, obviously prompted by the move of NXT to Tuesdays starting on April 13, but because of it being basically ‘Wrestlemania’ week, with Takeover on both Wednesdays and Thursdays, this review is coming in a bit late and perhaps a bit short.
Nevertheless, this Impact was significant as it showcased for the first time AEW Champion Kenny Omega competing in an actual match as he teamed with the Good Brothers against Eddie Edwards, Willie Mack and the Unified Impact Champion Rich Swann.
Here’s the way I saw Impact Wrestling this week.
Six woman tag team match (Rosemary, Jordynn Grace and Havoc vs. Nevaeh, Tenille Dashwood and Alisha Edwards)
There’s a few confusing anecdotes here for me, such as Alisha teaming with Tenille and Nevaeh’s inclusion. Nevaeh turned her back on her former partner Havoc last week, but unless subject to last minute card changes, she is actually not in the Knockouts scramble match on Hardcore Justice.
Havoc and Nevaeh are still going to be feuding further down the line, given the bump they both took through a table set up on the outside by Decay when Nevaeh did a Russian Leg Sweep on Havoc on the ring apron. Alisha teaming with Tenille and Nevaeh, the “heels”, was kind of odd, although she had a good showing against Rosemary in the ring and ate the pin.
This whole match was basically to highlight some of the Knockouts competing on the pay per view.
Matt Cardona vs. Jake Something
Cardona asked for a fight and Something was probably the ideal opponent. Jake actually managed to do some effective counters to Matt’s ‘Radio Silence’ finishing move, but when both men tossed each other to the outside, Brian Myers came in and attacked both of them, which resulted in a no contest for this match.
Myers actually jammed Something’s eye “into the pointed edge of the ring steps”, and right afterwards as Cardona was laid out said he changed his mind and accepted his friend’s challenge to a match at Rebellion. Matt Striker, probably still one of the best commentators in this business, gave what I thought was a hilariously amazing line: “In the land of the blind, the one eyed fiend is still King”.
“The Most Professional Wrestler’s” actions would lead to Tommy Dreamer, who is booking matches for Hardcore Justice, to put a match between Something and Myers in a blindfold hardcore match, which means both competitors would be blindfolded. This really pissed Myers off as he has been basically wearing an eye patch for the better part of two months.
XXXL vs. Trey Miguel and Sami Callihan
In a follow up to events from last week, Sami Callihan teamed with a reluctant Trey Miguel against Acey Romero and Larry D. Before the match, there was a backstage segment where XXXL confronted Trey, who said he wasn’t teaming with Sami which prompted the duo to echo Callihan’s earlier assertions of Miguel lacking passion.
Initially, Trey did not come out while his music played but the former Rascalz, more motivated by wanting to fight XXXL than teaming with Sami, finally came out. What followed was one of those tag matches where one team has two strong headed individuals looking like they’re just trying to outdo each other.
But this actually led to some hilarious spots whereby Callihan used Trey as a weapon on Acey and both did opposite end suicide dives on XXXL as one of those one upsmanship moments. The odd couple picked up the win, but suffice it to say this storyline isn’t over and Trey and Sami being a team is not something that is going to be abandoned.
Deaner vs. Chris Sabin
We see another Violent By Design vignette whereby Eric Young does what every self righteous cult leader does when he fails in something, such as losing to James Storm in Storm’s 1000th match on Impact: blame one of his underlings. Saying failure is not an option, Young sent Deaner out alone to face the former Impact Tag Team Champion.
Before the match, Sabin, Storm and Chris Harris were seen in Swinger’s Palace gambling again, and Harris stayed behind in the casino while Sabin and Storm went out for the match, which would factor into what happened at the match’s conclusion. Deaner and Sabin wrestled a very evenly matched contest but it ended with Sabin getting the pin.
But while Storm and Sabin celebrated, Young came up on the big screen and said Deaner did what he was sent out to do, as the camera panned away to a trashed up Swinger’s Palace as Joe Doering had laid out Harris. Rhino came out and took down Storm and Deaner hit Sabin with a DDT and forced both men to watch as Harris was laid out on a table with Young holding a chair, saying that “his blood is on YOUR hands”, but the camera then cut out.
Knowing now that VBD is main eventing Hardcore Justice, will Sabin and Storm be looking for retribution?
Hyping up Title vs Career Knockouts match
I don’t think Impact could have put a better, more solid overview of Jazz’s career, which spans over 20 years and it was a first for me to learn that she actually wrestled men before going to WWE to wrestle women. Also good to be reminded that she was one of those talents once managed by the legend Theodore “Teddy” Long.
Deonna Purrazzo’s response was actually quite respectful, acknowledging that without women like ODB and Jazz, the “Virtuosa” would not be the Knockouts Champion and the competitor she is today. But she also said she was going to build her own legacy upon the foundation built by Jazz that she will ‘laid waste’ to.
If this is going to be Jazz’s swan song, having someone like Deonna who has been on a roll since coming to Impact would be the ideal end to an amazing career.
More backstage segments
The Innovator of Violence booked some more matches on this episode of Impact, putting the X Division Champion Ace Austin in a three way tag team match against his Rebellion challengers, TJP and Josh Alexander. Each man will have to select a partner of his choosing, although it’s more clear that Austin will pick Fulton.
As mentioned earlier, Dreamer took issue with Eric Young for his attacks on Harris and others and booked Violent by Design in an eight man tag match against Dreamer’s “Dream Team”, which we later found out will consist of himself, Rich Swann, Willie Mack and Eddie Edwards.
Finally, the mysterious vignette highlighting someone coming to Impact in April was finally revealed to be former Knockouts Champion Taylor Wilde, as the line “Let’s Get Wilde” was revealed to be the answer to the mysterious letters.
As of this writing, TJP went to his old teammate in Fallah Bahh, while Alexander selected former Impact X Division Champion Petey Williams, a fellow Canadian, in the triple threat for Hardcore Justice.
Main event: Kenny Omega and Good Brothers vs. Rich Swann, Willie Mack and Eddie Edwards
Striker pointed out that Omega, Gallows and Anderson have had years of experience competing in trios matches in New Japan, so some of the moves they pulled off were reminiscent of that time. There was actually a lot of back and forth going on, what you would expect to see in explosive tag team matches like this.
The chaos was such that at one point, Omega did a top rope dive but landed on his own partners as Swann moved out of the way. While chaos was going on outside, Swann hit the 450 splash on Omega for a cover, but Don Callus pulled Swann out of the ring. The Impact Champion didn’t lose focus, and actually got out of the One Winged Angel position before he and Edwards took down Anderson, hitting the Phoenix splash on Karl for the three count.
The narrative was set that Swann has a counter for Omega’s trademark finisher, but I have to say from watching the One Winged Angel on several occasions…it’s not that hard a move to find a counter for. The OWA setup takes a lot of time; Omega has to hoist his opponent onto his shoulders like they’re playing water polo, before grabbing their head and doing a high impact Michinoku driver for the three count.
In that setup position, it’s quite easy for someone to recover and slip out of it, or start hitting Omega in the head to get the AEW Champion to drop you back to the floor. By comparison, Jon Moxley’s Paradigm Shift is much more swift in its execution. Maybe the hype Callus is doing for Omega’s finisher is really more bark than bite?
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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