Powell’s Impact Wrestling Hit List: Sami Callihan vs. Trey Miguel, Don Callis spoils Rich Swann’s party, Juice Robinson and Dave Finlay vs. Larry D and Acey Romero in a non-title match, Jake Something vs. Rhino, Rohit Raju vs. Shera

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

Impact Wrestling Hits

Don Callis and Rich Swann: Swann was likable in his unified championship celebration before Callis crashed his party. Callis delivered a really good promo regarding the Swann vs. Kenny Omega title vs. title main event for Impact Wrestling’s Rebellion pay-per-view, and I enjoyed the way that Swann conveyed that Callis’s words got to him.

Sami Callihan vs. Trey Miguel: A good main event that was given plenty of time and concluded with a decisive finish. Callihan needs more heat and needs to do less teleporting, so this was a step in the right direction. Miguel always felt like he was pushed to a certain level as the singles wrestler of The Rascalz, and then he would lose when he was in the ring with main event players. This is more of the same, though I suspect that they are building to him eventually scoring a meaningful win over Callihan.

Impact Wrestling Tag Champions Juice Robinson and Dave Finlay vs. Larry D and Acey Romero in a non-title match: A showcase match for the new tag team champions. I’m surprised that Impact wrote them off for their run in Japan, as it seems like they could have just recorded another match along with some backstage segments in advance so it could have seemed like they never left, but perhaps we’ll get some footage of the duo with the tag titles in a New Japan Pro Wrestling ring.

Deonna Purrazzo, Kiera Hogan, Tasha Steelz, Susan, Kimber Lee, and Tenille Dashwood vs. Havok, Nevaeh, Jazz, Jordynne Grace, ODB, and Alisha Edwards: A fairly random, yet well worked outing. They crammed a lot of Knockouts into one match and it didn’t really feel like it moved anything forward, but it was entertaining filler.

Rohit Raju vs. Shera: The right guy went over. I’m still not sure why they pulled Shera as Raju’s muscle, which seemed like a good role for him.

Impact Wrestling Misses

Rhino vs. Jake Something: Rhino’s first match as a member of Violent By Design was underwhelming. I was hoping for some type of change from the look that Rhino has had since his ECW days. Rather, it was the same Rhino making crazy eyes with his hair a little messy. This also felt like a spot where someone lower on the card than Something could have lost to Rhino. At least they went with a distraction finish, as overplayed as those are in pro wrestling these days.