By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Impact Wrestling Hits
Rich Swann and Tommy Dreamer vs. Moose and Chris Bey: The heel duo went over when Dreamer sidestepped Moose and then shoved him, which led to Moose spearing and pinning Swann. It gave Moose a win over the Impact World Champion while likely creating some tension between Swann and Dreamer heading into their title match at No Surrender. The only negative is that Swann continues to look like a soft champion rather than the face of the brand.
X Division Champion TJP vs. Rohit Raju in a non-title match: The usual well worked match from the X Division Champion and his top rival. The finish was ridiculous with Mahabali Shera hiding out under the ring. At the very least, it felt like Raju should have sent TJP to ringside, but he just short of tumbled there following a mid-ring knee strike. That said, I like the idea of Shera working as the muscle for Raju. The comedic version of Raju has been a lot of fun, but hopefully the addition of Shera to the act will lead to Raju being presented in a more serious light.
Havok vs. Tasha Steelz: A solid singles match to keep the ongoing Knockouts Tag Title feud going. Havok and Nevaeh are finally starting to feel like the babyfaces of the feud, and hopefully they will cement that via their words in a promo.
Josh Alexander vs. Madman Fulton: A good win for Alexander, who is being established nicely as a singles wrestler now that tag partner Ethan Page is no longer with the company. On the flip side, Fulton is losing more than a monster should. For instance, it would have meant a lot more for Alexander to beat him had the company been better about saving Fulton’s losses for key times like this one.
Tony Khan and Tony Schiavone: Last week’s segment was just sort of there, but the duo was back in good form this time around. The alternate universe versions of Khan and Schiavone in Impact continue to crack me up. It was also interesting that Khan worked in a plug for Jon Moxley appearing on an upcoming edition of New Japan Strong.
Impact Wrestling Misses
Trey Miguel and Sami Callihan: For the love of all that is good in the world, put an end to teleporting Sami. It doesn’t even make sense. He’s a computer hacker. How does that give him magical teleporting abilities? I wanted to like this segment, but Callihan teleporting into the picture for no good reason took me out of the moment.
Crazzy Steve vs. Larry D: D winning was surprising given that Impact just started the Decay reboot with Steve and Rosemary. It ultimately led to Tenille Dashwood joining forces with Team XXXL to take care of Rosemary. Wouldn’t it have made more sense for Steve to win with an assist from Rosemary to give Team XXXL a reason to find someone to counter her?
Jordynne Grace vs. Susan: Su Yung was great. Susie was fun. Susan is a boring bust. Meanwhile, Grace feels like she’s spinning her wheels, though perhaps they are working toward her challenging Deonna Purrazzo for the Knockouts Title again. On a positive note, it was nice to see ODB return to make the save.
Sami isn’t technically teleporting. He’s glitching out the cameras and walking into frame.
Then why do the wrestlers and the broadcast team members have to act like he magically appeared out of thin air?