Here’s my review of this week’s Impact Wrestling on Twitch and AXS TV.
Before the Impact: Rohit Raju vs. James Storm / Iceman Intel
Impact added a new segment called BTI (Before The Impact) before the two hour show starts. The hour long segment features a smattering of backstage interviews, commentary and a segment from George Iceman, the writer and producer of the indy wrestling promotion Destiny Wrestling, and at least one wrestling match.
During BTI, the former X Division champion Rohit Raju faced off against TNA/Impact veteran James Storm which ended in Storm’s victory but almost immediately led to a beatdown by Rohit and his recently returned ally Mahabali Shera on Storm and his partner Chris Sabin. I suspect this is building towards a tag match between Storm / Sabin (Beer Guns or whatever they call themselves) and Raju / Shera (Desi Hit Squad 2.0, maybe?)
One cool factoid that was brought up is that Storm is getting close to having his 1000th wrestling match, at least under the TNA / Impact umbrella, which is an incredible accomplishment and a testament to Storm’s tenure in the company, which spans back to the early 2000s.
With the need to keep a credible tag division going after last year’s plethora of teams competing for the tag titles, Impact needs other contenders for The Good Brothers besides bringing in fresh talent from outside the company like FinJuice from NJPW, not that I’m complaining. Raju and Shera or Storm and Sabin could become future contenders…and who knows when Impact tag teams besides Gallows and Anderson might start showing up in other promotions.
As for this “Iceman Intel” segment, it’s not long but the quality of the information George puts out every week varies depending on the subject. Last week he mentioned a certain tag team was “having problems”, but never identified who. This week he mentioned that Sami Callihan is “not happy” after being beaten down by Trey Miguel backstage, which seems like an obvious point. I love George as he runs the indy company in my hometown, but I would like to see more details and evidence behind his claims.
Black Taurus vs. Chris Bey vs. Ace Austin (X Division Championship Triple Threat Number One Contenders match)
It’s kinda odd seeing a match with two wrestlers with almost identical in-ring styles and a man dressed like a black minotaur, but this is the X Division where anybody can be in it, regardless of weight class or even gender.
The match was a decent example of the dynamics you’d expect in a Triple Threat situation. Austin and Bey looked like they could be a natural tag team if that idea ever came to pass. I’m going to hold my take on Black Taurus; I don’t know enough about the man other than he’s wrestling with a hybrid style of power and agility of his own right.
Austin picked up the win by pinning Bey after his partner, Madman Fulton, interfered, which at least kept Black Taurus as this unstoppable monster, but I didn’t like how Ace needed outside interference to pick up the win. Austin will now face X Division Champion TJP at Sacrifice, but first he has to face Bey one on one next week on Impact.
If Ace is constantly promoting himself as being this ‘inevitable’ winner, he needs to win matches on his own like he did during the Super X Cup in January if he wants to become X Division Champion again.
Tenille Dashwood vs. Havoc
Dashwood continues her winning streak by pinning Havoc, and afterwards she and “Kaleb with a K” engage in a beatdown with selfies until Havoc’s partner Nevaeh comes out to make the save. I guess they’re doing a storyline where this team of Havoc and Nevaeh go through some redemption journey back into relevance. Not sure where Dashwood’s push is eventually leading. She should be a contender for the Knockouts title but this is definitely not the right time yet.
Good Brothers and FinJuice vs. XXXL and Reno Scum
To be honest, this match flew by for me and the finish was more indicative that this match’s main purpose was to showcase the “friendly” rivalry between Gallows and Anderson and Dave Finlay and Juice Robinson, judging by the way both teams tried to hilariously purpose each other at the end, which is even funnier as there are no fans in the Impact Zone.
As for the opposition, I think XXXL and Reno Scum should unite into a “super faction” of mean, rough disgusting hooligans and I just happen to love a man going around calling himself “Luster the Legend”.
Brian Myers vs. Eddie Edwards – Matt Cardona is Special Guest Referee
You have to admire the creative finesse Impact is trying when booking this Cardona / Myers situation. The match was the typical babyface vs. heel dynamic, with Myers using a blunted object in his elbow pad on Edwards, which led to a disqualification win for the former Impact World Champion. Cardona actually ended the match by pulling out the object from Myers’ elbow and raising Edwards’ hand.
Afterwards, Cardona checked on Edwards while Myers angrily left the ring, and here’s the unique part; normally in WWE Myers would probably attack Cardona at this point, but these two men are real life friends so I think they’re factoring that consideration and making Myers almost hesitate in retaliating, for if the guest referee was anyone else but Cardona I think Myers would have pulled off the typical heel move.
Since his Impact debut I think Myers has been playing an almost “tweener” type of heel; he’s not a chickenshit like the Miz but he’s not always the “most professional” wrestler as he calls himself, although if you consider winning any way necessary as being “professional” in wrestling you might see things differently.
Kiera Hogan vs. Deonna Purrazzo vs. Jordynne Grace – Triple Threat Match
The main event to close the show was this women’s division match that was originally scheduled to be a one on one with Deonna and Jordynne, but in a backstage segment Kiera Hogan inserted herself into the mix. I would say it’s a pretty big deal with your main event featuring all your female champions.
The match ends with Deonna getting the rollup pin on Jordynne and afterwards a complete brawl breaks out between everybody else, leaving Deonna in the ring but she gets ambushed by ODB, who was apparently attacked the week prior by Purrazzo. A Knockouts title match is scheduled between the two women at Sacrifice.
Within less than a year Deonna Purrazzo has already run through Grace, Su Yung, the longest reigning Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie and Rosemary. It only makes sense for Impact to bring some “old school” veterans from their Knockouts division to challenge the star they are making Deonna out to be.
Backstage Segments
The signature backstage segment this week was actually outside the Impact Zone, as Sami Callihan made his way to Trey Miguel’s old wrestling school to assault the students and Miguel’s former trainer, ending with Callihan apparently coercing a trainee to his side.
I actually don’t think this is building towards a rivalry; I think this is going towards an alliance of sorts between Callihan and Miguel. Both being Ohio natives, this could be a revamp of OVE, although it may not be called that. Miguel was a longtime babyface as the Rascals, and since his return has displayed more of an edge in his character. A heel turn on his part would not be surprising.
We also see another segment of ‘Swinger’s Palace’, which actually led to the Bey vs. Austin match next week. TJP and Alisha Edwards were at Johnny Bravo’s card table when Austin and Fulton busted in to berate the X Division Champion. TJP started collecting money from Bravo as he won the bet on exactly what Ace would be saying to him during his tirade. Then Bey comes in to confront Austin on his cheating ways.
On the side, we see this little exchange between Austin and Edwards, harkening back to the long rivalry that he had with Lish’s husband Eddie Edwards from a year ago. Long term, I see this segment not as funny as Wrestle House but a sort of way station for storylines or matches to develop back on the show.
We also saw another Violent by Design vignette, as Eric Young announced Deaner’s punishment for losing the tables match to Jake Something last week. Deaner was taken to a dark room by Joe Doering and sounding as though he was being beaten up, then the segment ended with Young and Doering closing the door on Deaner, implying perhaps there may be something even darker being left alone with him.
Finally, we see two separate video packages of Moose and Rich Swann hyping up their title match at Sacrifice, and Moose is definitely being put over by Swann but not to the point where he’s conceding defeat.
Moose is on such a roll right now I am predicting he will become the actual world champion for Impact come Sacrifice, even though the TNA title is now an officially sanctioned title. You don’t need the two combatants out this week as Impact can save a contract signing segment for next week on the go home show before the pay per view.
That is the way I saw Impact Wrestling this week. Hopefully going forward, I can dedicate more time and energy into reviewing the future of this company.
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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