It was a good PPV for Impact Wrestling, as the Canadian crowd came through and made it a night to remember. While Trinity and Deonna impressed in the main event, I would have to give match of the night to Subculture vs The Rascalz, as they tore the house down. The return of Steve Maclin was also one to remember, and the revelation that he may actually be facing Alexander down the line, must be relieving to Impact Wrestling fans. Furthermore, We were treated to a very interesting match between Kazarian and Eddie Edwards, which was another enjoyable showcase of how good Impact can be when they use the cinematic format. The eight-man tag and opener were both good, chaotic fun, which made a good use of weapons, with EY finally putting the Design to rest in the opener. SANADA vs Jake Something was also a highlight, which did exactly what it intended to do, in showcasing the talents of both men. Great show overall, rarely any misses on this event.
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7.5
It’s a big night for Impact Wrestling, as Deonna Purrazzo gets her rematch against Trinity in the main event of the show. Along with this three other titles are on the line, with Rascalz vs Subculture for the tag belts, MK Ultra in a four way for the Knockouts tag belts, and Johnny Swinger competing for the Digital Media championship against Kenny King. We also see Eric Young return to his home country, in an attempt to vanquish the Design for good, as he takes on Deaner in a No Disqualification match. He’s not the only home-country hero, as Josh Alexander has his first match back in an Impact Wrestling ring, in eight man tag action. All this and more!
Countdown Results:
Mike Bailey def. Alan Angels
JOYA def. The Good Hands
GREAT No DQ: Eric Young vs Deaner
Some unique blue lighting for the show tonight, not sure how I feel about it, too dark for me. That being said, I do like the stage design however, looks nice. The match itself was an unsurprisingly violent match, to cap off an incredibly violent feud. A wide assortment of weapons are used, with my personal highlight being the staple gun, which Deaner gruesomely shoots between EY’s fingers and in his armpit. The crowd are active throughout this match, with them chanting “You still suck” at Deaner, after he smashes EY round the head with a chair, whilst a trashcan is over his head. I really enjoyed this match, Deaner stood his own, and the two had a really entertaining match. The use of weapons was well done, and we got multiple entertaining spots out’ve it. With the Toronto crowd firmly behind Young, it added tension to the match, and the loud crowd reactions really got me into it. The finish comes after EY ends up hitting both Kon & Deaner simultaneously (yes simultaneously, genuinely crazy feat of strength) with a DVD onto the barbed wire board, which he follows by piledriving Deaner onto the barbed wire board. Great finish to a great match. Eric Young finally vanquishes his own creation.
Result: Eric Young by Pinfall via. Piledriver
Bailey Higham WR Star Rating – 3.75 Stars
Joe Hendry and Yuya Uemura are interviewed next. Gia asks Joe about how this team came about, and Joe talks about how he can’t stay a solo artist his whole life. Yuya then snatches the mic out’ve Gia’s hand and asks “CAN I GET A JOYA!”, Gia then complies. I know there’s people who won’t like this, but I was entertained, and I really want this team to go far.
Next we see Taylor Wilde hurt backstage, with her Coven partner, KiLynn King accusing Jody Threat of being the attacker. King is obviously frustrated, as her tag title match is up next, but Santino somewhat eases her concerns, as she still gets to be in the match, but with Jody Threat as her partner.
GOOD Knockouts Tag Team Title: MK Ultra vs Death Dollz vs Gisele Shaw and Savannahs Evans vs Jody Threat and KiLynn King
This was an enjoyable match, with the two main storylines/arks of the match being Jody and King not getting along, and the Death Dollz having the best tag team psychology. Both storylines were presented well and played out well. The match picks up more, and gets more chaotic as it goes on, with MK Ultra securing the win, by simultaneously dumping Rush on the head.
Result: MK Ultra by Pinfall
Bailey Higham WR Star Rating – 3.00 Stars
Enjoyable Swinger interview before the match, not that much to comment on.
AVERAGE Digital Media Title: Johnny Swinger vs Kenny King
This is the most competitive Johnny Swinger match you’ll ever see, with Swinger outsmarting King at nearly every turn early on. At one moment, we get a glimmer of hope that the Swingman may have done it, as Heath delivers a wake up call to King, behind the referees back. Sadly, he was unsuccesful, and was put down quickly after with a royal flush. Fun match, obviously nothing great, but it was fun.
Result: Kenny King by Pinfall via. Royal Flush
Bailey Higham WR Star Rating – 2.50 Stars
King’s assault on Swinger after the match is broken up by a crowd of road agents and referees. One of the people protecting Swinger is Tommy Dreamer, who is later attacked by King, setting up that rivalry. I’ve never been more uninterested in a potential future match.
Entertaining promo from Alexander and Time Machine next. Good fun, and nice build to the eight man tag.
MUST WATCH Tag Team Title: Subculture vs The Rascalz
This match was a beautiful romance of British and X-Division style wrestling. They built up this match well, as it ends up picking up in an incredible manor, and I get to witness some of the best tag team sequences I’ve ever seen. I was going to deduct this 0.25 stars for the interference of the Good Hands and the ABC, but they make up for this with the awesome moment of Dani Luna diving onto the Good Hands. This amazing tag match is capped of with a title change, as the Rascalz are able to take the win with a nasty foot stomp/burning hammer combination.
Result: The Rascalz by Pinfall via Foot stomp/burning hammer combination
Bailey Higham WR Star Rating – 4.75 Stars
We then get a promo from the heel team in the eight man tag. I enjoyed this one a lot more, as Bully embraces Lio, and officially lets him join their group text. We also see Lio mention PCO, which is good continuity, and adds some tension between the heels for later on.
Back to School Match: Frankie Kazarian vs Eddie Edwards
I always like when Impact do cinematic segments/matches and this is no exception. This was really interesting. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of the match move-wise, I really liked the dynamic they had here. Eddie repeatedly reminded Kaz of his accomplished, and called Kaz a failure to his mentor. I don’t think I can rate this, due to it being cinematic, but I liked what they tried here.
Result: Eddie Edwards by Pinfall via Boston Knee Party
This segment ends with Eddie smashing Kaz over the head, with a picture of Kowalski. They then situate the camera similar to Walter White’s death scene, with Kaz laying down helpless next to the picture of his trainer. Kaz is now at his lowest point, it’ll be interesting to see where he goes from here.
AMAZING SANADA vs Jake Something
I was highly anticipating this match, and it lived up to all my expectations. SANADA spent most of the match trying to work over the bigger man, as Something just used his power advantage to dominate at times. This match go “this is awesome” chants, which is a good representative of how good the match was. Even in defeat, Something had a great performance, that really made me believe that he could be main eventing for Impact later on down the line.
Result: SANADA by Pinfall via. Deadfall
Bailey Higham WR Star Rating – 4.25 Stars
The two men shake hands after the match, which was understandable, as Something took SANADA to the limit.
GREAT Brian Myers, Bully Ray, Moose and Lio Rush vs Josh Alexander and Time Machine
This tag match was simply hectic. Every man got a good amount of stuff in as things got going. Canada is the best place for Alexander’s first match back (in an Impact ring), as the crowd were raucous for him, and most of the moves he did. As soon as the referee is assassinated by Brian Myers, the chaos goes up by tenfold, as with no tag rules, it’s every man for themselves, with Sabin crashing through a table soon after the ref is taken out. This is soon followed by KUSHIDA going through a table, thanks to a final hour from Rush. Two awesome spots back-to-back. As Bully looks to put Shelley through one next, the lights go out, and PCO shows up, to a big ovation. Bully and the Most Professional Wrestling Gods triple powerbomb PCO through the table, but he immediately gets up as Hannifan shouts “HES ALIVE!” in a funny nod to Frankenstein. As PCO looks to chase away Bully Ray again, STEVE MACLIN RETURNS. He takes out PCO and stares down Josh Alexander, teasing the match we never got. The two then brawl, until they’re separated by security. Josh then starts selling an arm injury, which he got from Maclin. This is soon followed by Shelley leaving the match after he miscommunicates with Josh, finally adding some much needed tension to their future affair (hopefully we get Shelley vs Alexander vs Maclin in the main event of Bound For Glory). As Shelley leaves, Moose take advantage and spears Alexander for the win.
Result: Moose by Pinfall via. Spear
Bailey Higham WR Star Rating – 3.50 Stars
This match did really well in building towards the future matches between Alexander, Shelley and Maclin, along with building towards Rush vs Sabin/KUSHIDA and PCO vs Bully. Really fun match aswell.
I always forget to mention this in the reviews, but Trinity’s hair is incredible. She’s made it look like the Canadian flag, which looks really nice.
Before the main event, we’re greeted with the announcement that Gail Kim will be the special guest commentator for tonight.
AMAZING Knockouts World Title: Trinity vs Deonna Purrazzo
Quite the opposite of the Subculture match. A bombastic main event that gets you interested with big moves right away. Both women gave it their all here, with some nasty offence being shown throughout (with one of the best spots being Deonna spiking Trinity’s head into the floor early on). Trinity shown some good psychology here, with some arm selling stopping a starstruck at one point, and forcing her to use her legs for the starstruck in the finish. Amazing match, love seeing the knockouts main event.
Result: Trinity by Submission via. Starstruck
Bailey Higham WR Star Rating – 4.25 Stars
The show then ends with the announcement of Will Ospreay at Bound For Glory, which is pretty awesome. Hopefully we get that match against Mike Bailey that was supposed to happen at the first Multiverse United. That being said, Rich Swann would also be a pretty cool opponent.
Overall…
It was a good PPV for Impact Wrestling, as the Canadian crowd came through and made it a night to remember. While Trinity and Deonna impressed in the main event, I would have to give match of the night to Subculture vs The Rascalz, as they tore the house down. The return of Steve Maclin was also one to remember, and the revelation that he may actually be facing Alexander down the line, must be relieving to Impact Wrestling fans. Furthermore, We were treated to a very interesting match between Kazarian and Eddie Edwards, which was another enjoyable showcase of how good Impact can be when they use the cinematic format. The eight-man tag and opener were both good, chaotic fun, which made a good use of weapons, with EY finally putting the Design to rest in the opener. SANADA vs Jake Something was also a highlight, which did exactly what it intended to do, in showcasing the talents of both men. Great show overall, rarely any misses on this event.
Matches: 0.75/1 Stars
Show Structure: 0.75/1 Stars
Atmosphere: 0.75/1 Stars
Storytelling: 1/1 Stars
Production/Theme: 0.5/1 Stars
Overall Rating: 3.75/5 Stars
Photo Credit: Impact Wrestling – August 27th 2023
For inquiries about the rating criteria check out the article announcing the new system here:
