By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Impact Wrestling Hits
Chris Bey vs. Laredo Kid: It was a really good night for in-ring action and this was the best match of the bunch. Bey is excellent in the ring, but he and the creative team need to flesh out his character in order for him to reach his full potential. Who is the Bey character? The Ultimate Finesser is a good name, but he’s not being booked in a way that really plays into it.
Josh Alexander vs. Rohit Raju: A hot opening match. This was the version of Raju that Impact needs to go with consistently. He excels in every role they give him, but they’ve never committed to him playing a serious wrestler. They tease it occasionally and then he reverts to comedy. This company has more than enough comedy acts, so here’s hoping that this time will be different.
Mickie James and Deonna Purrazzo: A good pull apart brawl between the Knockouts Champion and the former champion. It’s not the first pull apart we’ve seen from these two, but they have effectively established that these characters despise one another. The Texas Death Match announcement for their title match at Hard To Kill was unexpected and intriguing. This feels like the main event of the show and it will be interesting to see where it is slotted on the card.
Trey Miguel vs. John Skyler for the X Division Championship: A good television title defense for Miguel. There was no mystery regarding the outcome, but he and Skyler worked well together and it’s good to give the champion a spotlight match. The post match angle with Steve Maclin attacking and kidnapping Miguel was an interesting development that I would have liked more had they presented the footage in a way that made it feel more raw and realistic rather than adding a synth score to it. But I liked it overall because it made Maclin feel more dangerous and unhinged.
Jonah promo: A well delivered monologue explaining his new Top Dog persona. The story he told about his father earning respect in prison was easy to follow.
Impact Wrestling Misses
Moose vs. Matt Cardona vs. W Morrissey contract singing for Hard To Kill: This was a good segment until Chelsea Green took a chair shot to the head. I don’t care about the inevitable claims that it was done as safely as possible. Given everything we know about head trauma, there’s just no way to justify unprotected chair shots to the head. There were other ways they could have come up with a storyline trigger for Green to revert to her “Hot Mess” persona if that’s where this is going.
Doc Gallows and Joe Doering vs. Rich Swann and Willie Mack: The match was entertaining, but I’m not big on having the regular team of Swann and Mack lose to what will surely be a short-lived duo in Gallows and Doering. It continues to be strange to see Swann spinning his wheels coming out of his Impact World Championship reign.
Tenille Dashwood vs. Jessie McKay: The Influence vs. IInspiration feud isn’t clicking with me yet. McKay and Cassie Lee seem to be the babyfaces, but they come off as the lesser of two evils rather than a true babyface act.
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