Powell’s Impact Wrestling Hit List: Tessa Blanchard and Eddie Edwards vs. Taya Valkyrie and Michael Elgin, the Undead Realm, Rosemary meets Raven at the bar, eight-man X Division match, Moose vs. Chase Stevens, Dez and Wentz vs. Reno Scum

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

Impact Wrestling Hits

Tessa Blanchard and Eddie Edwards vs. Taya Valkyrie and Michael Elgin: Did Josh Mathews really say that we’ll all tell our grandchildren about the completely forgettable Edwards vs. Elgin best of five series? Anyway, the match was fine in terms of building to the three-way Impact World Championship match between Blanchard, Edwards, and Elgin that has been postponed. While I enjoyed the Blanchard vs. Sami Callihan series, I still have major moments of disconnect when I see Blanchard get the better of powerhouse opponents such as Elgin and when Brian Cage was still with the company.

Rosemary and Raven at the bar: As much as the Undead Realm is a personal turnoff, Rosemary does an excellent job of playing her character. And this was a fun segment with a surprise cameo by Raven, who gleefully sang the praises of being in an endless feud with Tommy Dreamer.

Sami Callihan and OVE promos: Callihan’s new take on his Solomon Crowe persona from NXT is intriguing, and I’m curious to see how it involves the Crist Brothers and Madman Fulton.

Willie Mack vs. Chris Bey vs. Acey Romero vs. Daga vs. Rohit Raju vs. Jake Crist vs. Cousin Jake vs. Trey Miguel for a future X Division Title shot: An entertaining opener with the usual big spots we’ve come to expect from these supersized X Division matches. But did Bey really need to be involved since he wasn’t winning? The company did a nice job of building up to his re-debut, had him go over in a squash match in his first match back last week, and then had him come up short in this match. Strange. Nevertheless, the match format and style wasn’t for everyone, but there was good action from bell to bell.

Moose vs. Chase Stevens: A solid showcase for Moose in his ongoing battle with wrestlers who date back to TNA. The latest return of the throwaway Suicide character didn’t do much for me, but it’s logical given that they were building to the TNA show that had been scheduled for WrestleMania weekend.

Impact Wrestling Misses

Undead Realm: Why is this still happening? Surely there’s a better way to generate YouTube views that this never ending acid trip. Does “Sinister Minister” Jim Mitchell being stabbed mean that he finally gets to escape this nonsense? Here’s hoping that someone out there will make good use of his talents for the first time in years.

Reno Scum vs. Dez and Wentz: I guess the idea was to give Reno Scum a meaningful win. But just how meaningful was it when we saw The Rascalz lose to Mahabali Shera and Rohit Raju recently? It’s frustrating to see Dezmond Xavier, Zachary Wentz, and Trey Miguel spinning their wheels. Impact has lost a lot of talent to other companies over the last year and the trio of Xavier, Wentz, and Miguel are among the wrestlers who could be elevated to help fill the void. Instead, they seem to be losing as often as they win these days.

Rhino and Sabu vs. Dave Crist and Madman Fulton in an old school rules match: The match was fought under “old school rules” which apparently meant there were no rules. Despite this, the referee took issue with Crist hitting Rhino below the belt, which led to Crist shoving the referee to the mat. Crist grabbed a chair that had already been in play and then the referee took the chair away him. Huh? Anyway, this was really slow and downright sad at times.