IMPACT: Against All Odds 2022 Review - July 1st, 2022

IMPACT Wrestling

Against All Odds 

July 1st, 2022

Center Stage - Atlanta, Georgia 

Pre-Show:

1) Black Taurus vs. Laredo Kid 

This was a blast and the perfect length. It only goes seven minutes so no room for filler or excess. Just these two running a great sprint with a ton of awesome spots. The crowd was hot for both guys which added to it as well. Taurus gets the win. 

Match rating - ***

2) Brian Myers (c) vs. Rich Swann - Digital Media Championship Match 

This was fun. I don’t really care about either guy, but you can’t deny how easy of a watch this was. I hate that Swann has so many shit allegations in his past because he really is such a fun act for Impact to have on their roster and I feel like all his shittiness has overshadowed any positive credit to his name. Which, I mean.. rightfully so. Anyway. 

Match rating - **3/4

MAIN SHOW:

1) Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) vs. BULLET CLUB (Chris Bey & Ace Austin) 

You know this rocked. Shelley is so consistent this year as always. Sabin is also a super solid hand.. as always. Then you’ve got the new young guns of the BC, Chris Bey & Ace Austin. I’m not big on either guy and I think BC is bloated as fuck, but Bey has delivered for me lately and Ace Austin’s story in the BOSJ and joining BC has been pretty cool. So, yeah, this was good. It’s the first ever time for Bey & Ace tagging and I’d totally be down for more. MCMG made them look great, even in defeat. 

Match rating - ***1/2

Backstage, Karl Anderson gets his team hyped up to face Honor No More later. Gallows, Heath, and Storm all get chances to talk. 

2) Mickie James & Mia Yim vs. Deonna Purazzo & Chelsea Green 

IMPACT Wrestling Review - January 13th, 2022

Impact on AXS TV

January 13th, 2022

Dallas, Texas 

Commentators: Tom Hannifan & D-Lo Brown

Well, y’all, I didn’t anticipate to be here, but I am. I watched half of Hard to Kill and the first four matches were so good that I decided to check out Impact itself this week. Let’s see if I even finish this, much less make it to next week. It seems like I have tried to try out Impact once every year for the past 5 and never get hooked, Hard to Kill hooked more than anything has so maybe this time will be different!

The show opens with W. Morrissey heading to the ring to call out Moose. He says he got screwed at Hard to Kill and wants a rematch. Moose doesn’t come out, but instead pops up on screen. He says there will be a title match tonight, but it’s not against Morrissey and that he won’t be getting one at all. Morrissey vows to make sure Moose doesn’t make it to his title defense tonight and charges to the back to look for him. He runs into Scott D’Amore who tells him to calm down and he won’t be messing with the title match. BUT HOLD ON. SOMETHINS HAPPENIN IN THE ARENA~~

At ringside, the ROH invaders from Hard to Kill show up again. Matt Taven takes D-Lo Brown’s headset and they start to rough him up. This ends with PCO hitting two dives on D-Lo on a table. The first didn’t break the table so he does a second one that destroys it. PCO is a maniac. 

1) Chris Bey vs. Laredo Kid 

NWA-TNA PPV #2 Review - June 26th, 2002

NWA-TNA PPV #2

June 26th, 2002

Huntsville, AL

Clips from the Styles/Lynn/Ki/Psichosis main event

Commentary - Don West, Mike Tenay & Ed Ferrara

Replays air of last week's Jeff Jarrett shenanigans and before you know it, his music hits and he wants his match with Scott Hall RIGHT NOW BY GOD.

1) Jeff Jarrett vs. Scott Hall (w/ Toby Keith & Jackie Fargo)

This was so much better than it had any right to be. Jarrett was such a good chicken shit heel. Focusing on outsmarting Hall/short cuts and rest hold. They tease the Toby/Jarrett stuff. It's soooo good then they do a stupid ass finish. Toby does a lowblow on Jarrett and he & Hall do a double team move on him and REFEREE SLICK JOHNSON slides back in and counts the pin with Toby standing right there.. alrighty.

Match rating - **1/4

Random Match Review: Chris Sabin & James Storm vs. Private Party - Impact Wrestling: January 19th, 2021

It’s been quite a while since I’ve done a single match review as a post, but I can’t quite stomach a full episode of Impact, even with the newfound AEW partnership. However, I happened to see on Twitter as I was scrolling that Private Party and Matt Hardy showed up and it peaked my interest. This a #1 Contender’s Match to determine who will challenge Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows for the Impact Wrestling World Tag Team Titles. I was interested what was going to happen following the six man tag at Hard to Kill and I can honestly say I couldn’t have predicted this being the next move. It’s not monumental, but I feel like we will get more out of it in the long run than the Omega/Good Brothers stuff as Private Party is a team that needs this outside experience. It comes at perfect timing too because there’s nothing really going for them in AEW right now so having the opportunity to send them over to another televised company with plenty of seasoned stars is such a great thing. It's almost reminiscent of the days where promoters would send certain wrestlers to certain other territories or overseas to Japan or England to do a tour and get new experience. This, as crazy as it may sound, makes me feel more positive about the AEW/Impact Wrestling relationship than the Omega/Good Brothers stuff, simply for the fact that Omega and his associates are already made stars. So, to me, bringing your big star to a company that is arguably not anywhere near as popular than him doesn't really do much for AEW. BUT doing this? It can do a lot for AEW as Private Party can come back after a few months or however long this tenure is and be more ready to take that next step up as a team and possibly get a chance at being tag team champions. 

That, along with the different ways you can incorporate them jumping ship into a storyline on Dynamite makes this something I'm pretty stoked about. Now comes this match. And to me, it's the perfect example of why this works. Chris Sabin and James Storm are two of the most decorated tag team wrestlers from the mid-2000's who both still have plenty to offer as competitors. Storm, in particular here, really stood out to me. I haven't seen him wrestle nor being excited about him wrestling in quite some time, but he looked awesome and very agile here. As I was saying, though, the knowledge that Private Party can get from working two guys of this caliber in tag team wrestling goes without saying. The match itself is simple, but because of all these reasons, I really enjoyed. Private Party got their stuff in and Sabin & Storm more than kept up with the speedy up & comers in a contest that was pretty competitive. They didn't burn the house down, but it was a super fun match that also probably benefited from two things:

1) the new commentary team of D-Lo Brown & Matt Striker, because god knows Josh Matthews made this show so hard to watch without feeling like a complete dork. Striker isn't THAT much better, but it's still better than what they had before.

2) AEW Owner Tony Khan showing up at ringside with the legend Jerry Lynn, who sported an AEW collared shirt. This added some suspense to the contest - why are they here? Did they know Private Party & Matt Hardy were showing up tonight? Are they going to get involved?

And to answer that question, they did. It looked like Private Party was done for, when all of a sudden, Jerry Lynn jumps the rail and holds the foot of Sabin who was on the top rope, this allows Private Party to hit GIN AND JUICE for the three count and to become the new #1 contenders for the Impact Wrestling Tag Team Titles. 

Post match, the champions, the Good Brothers - Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows come out and we get a decent staredown before it breaks into a sort of weak brawl to close the show involving all three teams. I get what they were going for, but closing the show in the middle of this didn't come across very well.

Match Rating - ***

TNA/IMPACT WRESTLING: Slammiversary 2018 Review

TNA/Impact Wrestling

Slammiversary 2018 

Toronto, Canada 

July 22nd, 2018 

Commentators - Don Callis & Josh Matthews

As of this writing, it's 2020. I haven’t watched hardly any post 2014-15 TNA. I’ve heard this is one of their best ppvs of all time despite being way past their peak so I’m pretty interested in it, especially considering how good the card looks on paper and the opening video package which heightens that. Slammiversary 2020 being attention grabbing made me want to go back and see what I may have been missing so let's get into it. 

1) Fenix vs. Taiji Ishimori vs. Petey Williams vs. Johnny Impact 

What a lineup here. Williams is a last minute replacement for Rich Swann who was injured, but a perfect one as this PPV is live in Toronto, Canada. Johnny is making his return after some time away as well as Ishimori. This was a lot of fun and the crowd was super hot for it. Fenix was an actual nutcase in this as usual and everyone else looked solid. Johnny wins a spotty opener. 

Match rating - ***1/2

Backstage EDDIE KINGSTON is with LAX originals Homicide & Hernandez. It looks like it’s old LAX vs. new LAX (Santana & Ortiz) tonight and I’m insanely stoked. King & Homicide are all time greats and Santana & Ortiz would go on to be great in their own right in AEW as they are as of this writing. 

2) Tessa Blanchard vs. Allie

Awesome video package for this match. I know Allie from her time as Cherry Bomb on the indies. She’s also currently The Bunny on AEW. None the less, pretty wild watching this now two years later. Saw some reports this was awkward but I didn’t think it was too bad. The start was a little rough but it turned into a fairly enjoyable little match with some memorable moments like Allie hitting a Death Valley driver on Tessa on the floor. Tessa wins when all is said and done. 

Match rating - **3/4 

Moose is backstage and says he looks good and feels good and will kick Aries ass tonight and everyone will be chanting his name. 

3) Eddie Edwards vs. Tommy Dreamer - House of Hardcore Rules Match 

I’ve seen some subpar reviews of this match, but I thought it was really good. Sure, this type of thing has been overplayed in TNA in the past decade or so (ECW/hardcore throwbacks & nostalgia kicks) but this truly felt like the focus was on adding depth to the character of Eddie Edwards and for someone who wasn’t super hyped on his title win that just happened at the 2020 edition of Slammiversary - seeing this showed me I haven’t been tuning in enough to see and appreciate the growth of Eddie, a talent that I was high on at one point. So, yeah. A bloody, personal brawl. The end was sorta flat as they teased a flaming table spot only for Eddie to win with a DDT. But the post match made up for it with Edwards breaking down crying with emotion which resonated with the story as he was breaking out of the mindset that Dreamer had been talking to his wife behind his back. Eddie’s wife running down and telling him to shake Dreamer’s hand was a nice touch too. 

Match rating - ***1/4 

4) Matt Sydal (c) vs. Brian Cage - X Division Title Match 

Awesome pre-tape promo from Sydal. Announcers touch on his history in TNA’s very early years and how he would go on to compete prominently in ROH, PWG, WWE and NJPW. Cage is the perfect bit of freshness in the X Division. He brings back the “no limits” aspect that someone like Samoa Joe personified and I love it. This match was also my favorite on the show so far. Sydal is so good in the big man/little man role and the near falls down the stretch popped off and ruled. Cage gets the win with the motherfuckin Steiner driver. New X Division Champ!!

Match rating - ***1/2

5) Madison Rayne vs. Su Young (c) - Knockouts Title Match

This was the weakest match of the show. The video package was good, but the match lacked the fire it needed. But it wasn't terrible and honestly the show needed a cool down and this was definitely it. Only went 6 or 7 minutes and Su Young retains.

Match rating - **

6) LAX (Santana & Ortiz) (w/ Konnan) vs. LAX OG’s (Homicide & Hernandez) (w/ Eddie Kingston) - Street Fight For the World Tag Team Titles

As a kid, LAX was undoubtedly one of my favorite tag teams and even as an adult I look back at how amazing of a team they were. An all time great team and Homicide on his own is an all time great singles wrestler. So when they chose to bring back Homicide & Hernandez to usher in another era of LAX with Santana & Ortiz (but not without a fight) - my interest was immediately peaked. Unfortunately I’m just now getting around to watching it but wow, it certainly lived up to expectation. Homicide rules in this style of match and everyone else more than held up their end of things. Plus Konnan and Kingston at ringside was a perfect touch. Table spots, numerous weapons and a couple of thumbtacks later and this one is over and Santana & Ortiz take the victory. Awesome grudge match from one of the best stables/teams in TNA/Impact Wrestling history. 

Match rating - ****

Post match, Homicide & Hernandez attack Santana & Ortiz and vandalize the tag title belts. 

7) Sami Callihan vs. Pentagon Jr - Mask vs Hair Match

I haven't had interest in anything involving Sami Callihan since 2013, so seeing rave reviews of this match made me worry I wouldn't be able to fully enjoy what others are hailing as a TNA classic. Well, I was wrong because this RULED. This is the realm in which Callihan thrives - brutal, blood feuds with high stakes. And Pentagon, well, Pentagon is much more widely faceted, but I feel he also shines very bright in this type of stuff. These two absolutely destroyed each other and showed so much intensity and desperation. Rail road spike shots that left Callihan pouring blood and Pentagon's mask soaked in red and a steel chair war in the center of the ring were just a few of the highlights of this insane contest. Pentagon even hit a package piledriver on Sami through a stack of steel chairs. But finally, the arm bar followed by another package piledriver got him the win. The Crist's try to stop Callihan from getting his head shaved, but Fenix comes out and evens the odds and Callihan is shaved bald.

Match rating - ****1/4

8) Austin Aries (c) vs. Moose - TNA World Championship Match

And a homerun of a show ends with a homerun of a main event. It's not mindblowing, it isn't a classic, but it's a damn good pro wrestling PPV main event. Aries is cocky and determined to put Moose in his place and prove him an unworthy challenger and to "leave him with nothing" whereas Moose is in the biggest match of his career and has a huge size advantage. Crowd is into it and these two go back and forth and kept my interest from bell to bell which as I've said a few times on this show - I didn't expect. Aries had to go to some great lengths to retain including a risky dive from the entrance ramp to the apron of the ring and a brainbuster on the floor. It ended up taking two brainbusters to put Moose down. Aries retains, but Moose looks strong in defeat. Great match.

Match rating - ****

Final thoughts: So, yeah, this was a blast. Kinda thinking of reviewing the rest of or more of 2018, but not sure if I want to put that on my plate with my Ruthless Aggression Era project going in full force along with trying to keep up with current stuff, but this definitely makes me wanna watch and review for recent Impact so there will probably be more of me covering this stuff. Be sure to follow me on Twitter (@thepwtruth) or on Facebook for updates. Slammiversary XVI gets a high recommendation from me!