Powell’s Impact Wrestling Hit List: Rich Swann vs. Kushida, Impact World Champion Josh Alexander vs. Shera in a non-title match, Eddie Edwards vs. Ace Austin, Laredo Kid and Trey Miguel vs. Johnny Swinger and Zicky Dice, Tiffany Nieves vs. Jada Stone

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

Impact Wrestling Hits

Rich Swann vs. Kushida: No surprises here. Impact delivered a match that looked good on paper and it more than delivered. As someone who really wanted to Kushida to move on from his tribute to Marty McFly, it was actually refreshing to see him back in the orange vest again after whatever the hell he became by the end of his run in NXT as part of Jacket Time. I would still love to see Kushida reinvent himself at some point, but there’s likely more money in him bringing his familiar gimmick back to New Japan Pro Wrestling after an extended absence. As for Swann, the stipulation was that he had to beat Kushida in order to get a title shot. Now that he came up short, will his quest continue or will he slide right back down the card into throwaway feuds that don’t take full advantage of his talents?

Ace Austin vs. Eddie Edwards: The Bullet Club vs. Honor No More feud just won’t end. But at least it provided this top notch match. I can’t say that the outcome did anything for me. Impact has a tendency to overvalue Edwards and it seems like it’s only gotten worse since he became the head of Honor No More. On the bright side, the live crowd really got behind Austin. As good of a heel as he is, it might be time for a babyface singles push.

Alex Shelley video package: Impact is doing a really good job of building to Shelley challenging Josh Alexander for the Impact World Championship at their Emergence Impact Plus special. The video package effectively showcased just how respected Shelley is amongst his peers, and the surprise testimonial from Johnny Gargano was a really nice touch.

Trey Miguel and Laredo Kid vs. Johnny Swinger and Zicky Dice: Was it a waste of Miguel and Kid? Maybe. Was the Swinger and Dice comedy fun? Absolutely. I continue to get a kick out of Swinger’s wannabe WrestleMania 3 cart, and this week’s attempt to do a Killer Bees switcheroo while wearing bondage masks was ridiculously absurd, and I actually mean that as a compliment in this case. Bonus points to Tom Hannifan for acting annoyed by the antics of Swinger and Dice rather than responding with the forced laughter that ruined a lot of gags (or just made them worse) when he worked for WWE.

Josh Alexander vs. Shera in a non-title match: A quick showcase win for the Impact World Champion. The post match with teleporting hacker Sami Callihan beating up Raj Singh was quick and painless.

Impact Wrestling Misses

Honor No More and Scott D’Amore: The rebellious invaders will go so far as to cut the show’s feed, but they (along with all Impact heels) just stand there and take shit from D’Amore. And all of this led to the announcement of yet another HNM ten-man tag team match. If nothing else, there could be light at the end of the tunnel, as the stipulation for the match is that HNM must disband if they lose. And here’s hoping they do. As noted in the past, there’s plenty of talent in HNM, but the wrestlers are all better off as individuals (or in tag teams in some cases) than they are as a tired faction that works meaningless ten-man tag matches.

Tiffany Nieves vs. Jada Stone: Both OVW wrestlers worked hard and tried to make the most of their Impact appearance. They are young and talented, but this felt a lot like watching an NXT 2.0 match involving two wrestlers who aren’t quite ready for prime time. The match did serve its purpose in terms of having Killer Kelly take out both women after the brief match. And it was also good to see Tasha Steelz back for the first time since dropping the Knockouts Championship at Against All Odds.