Powell’s Impact Wrestling Hit List: Michael Elgin vs. Moose vs. Hernandez, Havok vs. Rosemary in a Full Metal Mayhem match, Chris Bey vs. Trey Miguel vs. Suicide vs. Rohit Raju, Joseph P Ryan vs. Cousin Jake

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

Impact Wrestling Hits

Havok vs. Rosemary in a Full Metal Mayhem match: There was no storyline need for these two to have this gimmick match, so it took a few minutes to get into it. But both women worked hard, it turned out to be a good brawl, and it was also nice to see Rosemary get a meaningful win. Nevaeh showing up and just watching the match felt a bit anticlimactic, and Madison Rayne stating on commentary that she knows Nevaeh yet declining to say more had to be more irritating than compelling for curious viewers. For those who don’t know, Nevaeh is the wife of Jake Crist and she worked as Havok’s tag partner “Hazard” in the WOW promotion that also aired on AXS.

Chris Bey vs. Trey Miguel vs. Suicide vs. Rohit Raju in a four-way: The go behind standing switches that started the match were too cutesy for my taste, but the match picked up nicely once they got that out of their system. Bey was the right guy to put over, but having him pin fellow heel Raju means it’s unlikely that this match will lead to anything else. It all felt a bit random. There was no storyline support going in and and there was nothing particularly memorable about the match. Still, it was still well worked and got the show off to a decent start.

Joseph P Ryan vs. Cousin Jake: As much as I would like to see both men get gimmick overhauls, the actual match was fine. The problem with Ryan continues to be that he hasn’t done anything to convince viewers that he actually believes what he’s saying. He comes off like a guy who is just playing a character. For example, Rosemary has been involved in all sorts of ridiculousness over the years, but she’s all in and I don’t find myself thinking about the woman behind the character while I’m watching her segments. Meanwhile, while the Deaners are a decent mid-card tag team act, Jake strikes me as a guy who is capable of eventually graduating to a more meaningful role.

Impact Wrestling Misses

Hernandez vs. Michael Elgin vs. Moose: I mentioned last week that the mystery of Michael Elgin claiming he would be Impact World Champion by the end of Rebellion was a nice hook for night two. In retrospect, this Triple Threat really should have played out early in night one. The company was put in a tough spot with Elgin’s scheduled opponents Tessa Blanchard and Eddie Edwards both missing the show and the planned Triple Threat for the Impact World Championship. But this just didn’t feel like a good replacement main event despite the efforts of all three men. I would have preferred to have the company get this match out of the way early on and then saved last week’s Ace Austin vs. Willie Mack match for the X Division Championship to serve as this week’s main event. I didn’t care for Moose bringing back to TNA Championship, and I really disliked Moose going over rather than keeping Elgin strong for the eventual Triple Threat title match. On a side note, I get a kick out of Moose’s quirky antics at times, but I really wish he would abandon his out of nowhere cosplay tributes to WWE legends and become a more of a serious main event player for Impact. It was hard to take the guy seriously when he’s wearing a defunct TNA Championship while dressed in Ultimate Warrior garb for no good reason.