Powell’s Impact Wrestling Hit List: Moose and W Morrissey vs. Matt Cardona and Eddie Edwards, Jonah vs. Jai Vidal, Rachael Ellering vs. Savannah Evans, Rich Swann and Willie Mack vs. Joe Doering and Deaner

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

Impact Wrestling Hits

Jonah vs. Jai Vidal: The dominant squash win for Jonah was exactly what it needed to be. Jonah’s post match promo was solid and made him seem like a tweener in that he expressed his desire to face Moose for the Impact World Championship, yet also expressed no remorse for attacking Josh Alexander at Turning Point. Jonah is a great addition for Impact and it’s good to see that they are wasting no time in moving him into the main event mix. All of that said, I don’t care who used it first, Jonah needs to drop the hand sign that is just too similar to the one that The Dark Order uses. It’s just not a vital enough part of his act to hold on to.

Chris Sabin vs. Matthew Rehwoldt: The well wrestled match that one would expect from these two. Deonna Purrzzo sat in on commentary for the match and acted more humble than usual while the broadcast team spoke about how everything about her has changed. I wondered if this was setting up a babyface turn for Purrazzo, but then she distracted Sabin to help Rehwoldt, and Mickie James ran out and attacked her, so it looks like Purrazzo will remain a heel for the time being.

Impact Wrestling Misses

Moose and W Morrissey vs. Matt Cardona and Eddie Edwards: I give Cardona a ton of credit for what he’s done in Game Changer Wrestling by leaning into his WWE past and becoming a tremendous heel character. Cardona coming out to his “Oh Radio” theme song ahead of his GCW match with Nick Gage was one of my favorite moments of the year. But there’s just nothing fresh or fun about white meat babyface Cardona in Impact. Booking Cardona and Edwards to be players in the Impact World Title picture feels so cold. Impact desperately needs to elevate and create fresh babyface challengers for Moose. With so much good, young talent available, it’s crazy that Impact is going with a longtime WWE mid-card act (and that’s putting it nicely) and the beyond tired Edwards character. The only interesting part of this was Morrissey laying out Moose with a big boot afterward. Hopefully the plan is for Moose to plow through Cardona and then face Morrissey rather than go with a Triple Threat.

Rachael Ellering vs. Savannah Evans: This felt like a a filler match between a pair of wrestlers who have no creative direction.

Rich Swann and Willie Mack vs. Joe Doering and Deaner: Speaking of a lack of creative direction, Swann, Mack, and Violent By Design all feel like they are just spinning their wheels. So while this was a well worked match, it just didn’t feel like it mattered. At this point, it feels like VBD exists just to feud with Heath and Rhino.