By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Impact Wrestling Hits
Impact Tag Champions Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson vs. Jay White and Chris Bey in a non-title match: I was legitimately surprised by the outcome given that this was White’s first Impact match. Bey took the pinfall loss for his team. I don’t like what it does for White in the moment, but it was actually refreshing to see the tag team champions beat a makeshift team. The Good Brothers have been playing henchmen for Kenny Omega in two different companies. Regaining the tag titles at Slammiversary and then picking up the win in this match give Gallows and Anderson a nice boost.
Kenny Omega, Don Callis, Sami Callihan, and Frankie Kazarian: Omega and Callis were entertaining during their backstage bit with Gia Miller and then again during this in-ring segment. I assumed the company had moved on from Omega vs. Callihan after Omega’s win at Slammiversary, but it looks like they are sticking with it. The surprise appearance of Kazarian put this over the top and played nicely to his Elite Hunter gimmick.
Moose vs. Chris Sabin: Another good match between the two, this time with Moose getting his win after putting over Sabin at Slammiversary. The post match angle with Sabin roughing up Moose seems to suggest that we’ll be getting a rubber match, presumably to close out the feud. The creative and the in-ring work have both been solid thus far, so I look forward to the likely blowoff match.
Brian Myers, Francine, and Sam Beale: A cute skit with Francine taking exception to Myers asking other women to team with him at the Homecoming show before reaching out to her. It was nice to see Francine again even if it was via FaceTime. I also liked the way that Beale was blamed for what happened because he thought they were doing a taped segment rather than airing “live.”
Ace Austin, Madman Fulton, Rohit Raju, and Shera vs. Juice Robinson, David Finlay, Fallah Bahh, and No Way: A high-energy eight-man tag match. It’s still frustrating to see No Way keep everything other than the Jose part of his name from his failed WWE act. He’s a talented guy and I really hope they are just reestablishing his old persona before reinventing him, but I’m not holding my breath. Nevertheless, it was a fun match that had the studio crowd buzzing.
Impact Wrestling Misses
Rich Swann and Willie Mack vs. Rhino and Deaner: There was nothing wrong with the match, as it was Hit worthy in terms of quality. The Miss is all about Swann going from holding the Impact World Championship to working forgettable tag team matches after dropping the title. His character doesn’t seem to have any interest in trying to regain the championship he lost to Kenny Omega.
Taylor Wilde vs. Kaleb: This felt a little random. Kaleb’s character has no in-ring credibility, so this loss won’t hurt him. But I’ve never understood why Caleb Konley hasn’t caught on as a more straight forward act. Hopefully he’ll eventually get a chance to be more than Tenille Dashwood’s sidekick at some point during his Impact run. No, working as Suicide doesn’t count.
Homecoming theme: Sure, there are some other matches, but the show is built around a mixed tag team tournament to determine the first Homecoming King and Queen. Yawn. I just hope the coronation begins and ends at the Impact Plus show. The last thing pro wrestling needs is more cliche royalty characters.
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