By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Impact Wrestling Hits
Alex Shelley vs. Jonathan Gresham for the Impact World Championship: Shelley and Gresham put on a clinic in an outstanding main event. I wish Impact had done more to build up Gresham to feel like a viable threat to win the championship, because it would have eliminated the outcome feeling rather predictable, which is my only knock on the match. Even so, it’s a match worth going out of your way to see.
Eric Young vs. Eddie Edwards: The Impact veterans came through with the expected strong match and it concluded with a clean finish. Edwards is coming out of his feud with Frankie Kazarian, while Young is just kind of floating around having good matches. I’m curious to see if they do more with Young and Edwards or what the next programs will be for both men.
Tasha Steelz vs. Deonna Purrazzo: A win that puts Steelz back on the map in the crowded Knockouts division. Steelz is a former Knockouts Champion, but she spent a lot of time working tag team matches and then disappeared from television since her title reign. Beating Purrazzo clean means something in Impact and this was the most meaningful singles win that Steelz has had since her championship reign ended.
Will Ospreay vs. Josh Alexander build: The company could have dedicated this entire episode to pushing next week’s match and I wouldn’t have complained. Rather, they went with a brief video package and a promo from Ospreay. It wasn’t a lot, but it’s more than Impact typically does for the next episode’s main event. Even if you don’t normally watch Impact, you’re going to want to check this one next week because it looks outstanding on paper.
Myron Reed arrives in Impact: Finally! Reed was a consistently strong performer in MLW. I’m surprised it’s taken so long for him to land in a national promotion since his MLW deal expired. I just pray that Impact officials don’t get any bad ideas about adding needless six-man tag titles.
Dirty Dango and Oleg Prudius vs. Nick Diamond and Storm Grayson: Prudius looked and dressed a badass Bushwhacker, but fortunately he didn’t lick anyone. I can’t say that I have any desire to watch the former Vladimir Kozlov work full length matches, but he’s fine in the role as Dango’s enforcer. In this case, it was comical to watch him destroy the enhancement duo, only for Dango to tag in and take the pin.
Impact Wrestling Misses
Tommy Dreamer vs. Crazzy Steve for the Digital Media Championship: A soft Miss for a DQ finish that seemed designed to set up some type of stipulation match between the two. I get that this was designed to stretch out the program, but that’s actually my problem with it. Steve should plow through Dreamer rather than engage in a blood feud with him over a terribly named, meaningless title belt.
Joe Hendry vs. Brian Myers: The match was solid, but what was the point of having Hendry beat Frankie Kazarian last week only to turn around and have him lose this match? Okay, so those matches actually aired out of order, but this still felt like a momentum killing loss for Henry.
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