Powell’s Impact Wrestling Hit List: Eddie Edwards vs. Frankie Kazarian in a Killer Impact match, The Rascalz vs. Sami Callihan and Rich Swann for the Impact Tag Titles

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

Impact Wrestling Hits

Eddie Edwards vs. Frankie Kazarian in a Killer Impact match: A great main event that was given plenty of time. I was concerned about the time when the first fall ended so quickly, but it turned out to be a well paced version of WWE’s Three Stages of Hell match, albeit with different match types for the last two falls. I never felt fully invested in this feud, but it featured some very good wrestling and they saved the best for last.

Crazzy Steve: Steve continues to play his deranged character extremely well. It continues to amaze me that such a good talker was wasted for so long, but he’s making the most of the opportunity that he’s getting. Good for him.

“The Rascalz” Trey Miguel and Zachary Wentz vs. Sami Callihan and Rich Swann for the Impact Tag Team Titles: A top notch tag team match. It’s a shame that the match aired after Callihan announced his free agent status, as it did make the outcome feel predictable. But if this was it for Callihan in Impact, he went out on a high note with a really enjoyable tag title match. Given the circumstances, it would have been a good spot to give Miguel and Wentz a clean win. I’m happy the awful spray paint spot wasn’t the finish, but did Callihan really need to be protected with a low blow if he’s leaving the company?

Dirty Dango vs. Eric Young vs. Jake Something vs. Jordynne Grace vs. Champagne Singh for the first and final entry spots in the Call Your Shot battle royal: A nice win for Dango with some help from Oleg Prudius, who previously worked as Vladimir Kozlov in WWE. Prudius was aligned with Dango, which gives me some hope that Impact will feature Dango as more than a mid-card comedy act. That said, I have more confidence in Jake Something winning the Call Your Shot battle royal from the number one spot than I do in Dango winning the match as the final entrant.

Impact Wrestling Misses

Tasha Steelz vs. Courtney Rush: The match was fine and the right person went over given that Steelz and Deonna Purrazzo are challenging for the Knockouts Tag Titles at Bound for Glory. The Miss goes to the Rush persona. I was excited when the former Rosemary decided to shake up her act and revert to a previous persona. But her bad ’80s aerobics instructor gear and the silly character do nothing for me. Rush is really talented and I hope she goes back to the drawing board and comes up with better persona.

Bound For Glory build: The overall build to the company’s biggest show of the year has been solid and the lineup looks very good. And yet while I enjoyed this episode, I didn’t come out of the penultimate edition before BFG feeling more excited about the event. Hopefully the go-home show will give it a more effective push.