By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Impact Wrestling Hits
Mike Bailey vs. Kenny King in a Pit Fight: The Impact Pit Fight isn’t as impressive as the WWE Fight Pit. It’s actually nothing more than a no ropes, No DQ match. Even so, Bailey and King made it work with a gritty fight in and around the ring. They did a good enough job with this that I wouldn’t mind seeing Impact bring this match back again at some point if they find the right opponent for Bailey. For instance, a Bailey vs. Timothy Thatcher fight strikes me as a potentially fun clash in styles.
Mickie James, Jordynne Grace, and Frankie Kazarian vs. Tasha Steelz, Savannah Evans, and Bully Ray: The first part of the opening segment with Mickie James and Bully Ray was really good and the live crowd had a lot of fun with it. Bully did his usual great heel work while James shined by refusing to back down from him. The out of nowhere appearance by Ernest “The Cat” Miller was dumb fun. The actual match was also entertaining and I like the way they immediately turned the page to Masha Slamovich coming out and confronting James afterward.
Killer Kelly vs. Taylor Wilde: Kelly was the right person to go over in what was a quality match. Wilde’s new witch gimmick just isn’t clicking. To be fair, I’m not entirely sure what to make of Kelly’s gimmick, but it feels unique and far less cosplay than what Wilde is doing. Here’s hoping Wilde finds a way to make this work or simply opts for something new soon because she is a talented wrestler.
Deonna Purrazzo vs. Ashley D’Amboise: A solid showcase match for Purrazzo, who is back in the singles division now that Chelsea Green has left the company. D’Amboise was good in the ring and did a nice job during her backstage segment with Trey Miguel. She would be a nice addition to the Knockouts roster.
Impact Wrestling Misses
Steve Maclin vs. Dirty Dango: Maclin following up his strong win over Rich Swann with a competitive match with Dirty Dango was underwhelming. The Dirty Dango character just gets frustrating as we get further away from his run as Fandango. The character ran its course in WWE to the point that some of us were calling for him to revert to Johnny Curtis even back then. Dango is a talented guy who is stuck in a rut and yet seems completely uninterested in reinventing himself. Too bad. He just needed to look at his opponent to see an example of how a wrestler can benefit greatly from reinvention.
Tommy Dreamer declares war on Bully Ray: A Miss in the moment. I don’t mind the idea of Dreamer making Bully’s life miserable in various ways, but I really have no interest in watching an actual hardcore match between the two. Perhaps their mic work will win me over.
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