By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Impact Wrestling Hits
Eddie Edwards, Matt Taven, and Mike Bennett vs. Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, and Frankie Kazarian: A strong six-man tag main event with good work from everyone involved. The match and post match angle put more heat on Honor No More heading into the pay-per-view. I’m actually hoping for an Honor No More split. Impact just isn’t getting as much as they should out of Taven and Bennett by having them play sidekicks to faction leader Edwards. They could be positioned a top tag team or even pushed individually as credible threats to the Impact World Championship.
Steve Maclin vs. PCO: I assume PCO needed some dental work after his mouth hit the apron during a suicide dive attempt. That spot occurred early on and led to a lot of bleeding from PCO’s mouth, so much respect to him for gutting his way through the rest of the match. Maclin was fresh off of his tag team win over W Morrissey, so it was important that he follow up with another strong showing. Maclin got his latest credibility building victory, and PCO looked like a badass for finishing the match despite the blood and a shoulder injury.
Tenille Dashwood vs. Rosemary: The match itself was fine. The Hit is more about the post match angle that saw Taya Valkyrie save Rosemary from being attacked by Dashwood and Madison Rayne. I mistakenly assumed that we were headed toward Decay challenging for the Knockouts Tag Titles. It’s nothing against Havok, but it really held no appeal because the current version of Decay feels flat. But the oddball chemistry between Rosemary and Valkyrie has always been fun and feels fresh again after the long hiatus.
Impact World Champion Josh Alexander vs. Joe Doering in a non-title match: The DQ finish was underwhelming and didn’t move me in any way when it came to my lack of enthusiasm for the Slammiversary main event. That being said, I actually like the call to keep Doering undefeated in singles action because he could end up being a more believable threat to the Impact World Championship than Eric Young currently is.
Impact Wrestling Misses
The Good Brothers visit The Briscoes’ farm: If you really dig Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson comedy skits, then you probably enjoyed this more than I did. I was hoping that the comedy would eventually lead to a strong brawl between the two team, but the physicality was actually very forgettable. I loved the Fight on the Farm between the Briscoe brothers in ROH, and this didn’t even come close to measuring up to that gem of a segment.
Sami Callihan and Moose: I once saw Callihan the same way I see Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston in that he felt gritty and real regardless of how much nonsense was happening around him. Unfortunately, we’ve seen Callihan lean into the silliness with everything from teleportation to flickering lights to hacking to musically enhanced brawls. I really wish he would get rid of all of the needless gimmickry and get back to realism. In this case, the brawl (minus the awful music) was good and physical. The end result of Moose freaking out because he was locked inside a room was a groaner. Call me crazy, but I think the former NFL player could have broken through that door fairly easily.
Matt Cardona gives the Digital Media Championship to Brian Myers: On second thought, maybe there is a place for teleportation and the Undead Realm in pro wrestling. Can Impact teleport the Digital Media Championship, the WWE 24/7 Championship, the FTW Title, and AEW’s new All-Atlantic Championship into the Undead Realm and then close the portal forever?
> I assume PCO needed some dental work after his mouth hit the apron during a suicide dive attempt.<<
His mouth hit the floor actually, and then between then and the end of the match he had a gash in the top of his head that was literally POURING blood. The shoulder thing was just insane. The dude is inhuman. LOL