A great episode of Impact Wrestling, with three matches that I really recommend checking out. The women’s action was as strong as always, with two really enjoyable contests kicking off the show. The Bully Ray match did weight the show down, but that didn’t take up too much time, so it is what it is. They did well building too next week, and have me hooked, and ready for the matches that they did well in setting up. The main event was great, and is in contention for MOTN with the opener.
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It’s a big night for Impact Wrestling, as the Tag Team title number one contendership tournament comes to a close, with Swann & Callihan taking on the Rascalz. There is a host of action tonight, with Bully Ray taking on Black Taurus in a No DQ match, Eric Young taking on Kon and Killer Kelly against Jessicka and Savannah Evans, in a three way match. All this, plus Deonna Purrazzo opening the show against KyLinn King.
I also greatly apologise for not publishing my review last week, I’m currently on holiday, so I wasn’t able to get the show up, due to travelling issues.
GREAT Deonna Purrazzo vs KyLinn King
It was a great decision to put two of the best in-ring performers in the knockouts division against each other, because it was, unsurprisingly, pretty good. King is great, and showcasing her power really well, when she catches a hurricane-rana of the Virtuosa, and just slams her down. It does frustrate me slightly, that King isn’t featured on Multiverse United 2, as she’s had great performances against two of the top knockouts currently (Deonna and Trinity). After a hard-fought battle, Deonna is able to lock in the Fujiwara for the win, and gain some momentum for her two upcoming title matches. Good, hard-fought opener.
Result: Deonna Purrazzo by Submission via. Fujiwara armbar
Bailey Higham WR Star Rating – 3.50 Stars
We get an appearance of Trinity, watching from the back, as Deonna celebrates.
Gia Miller interviews Kenny King about Johnny Swinger choosing to challenge him at Emergence. King insults Swinger’s age, and calls him a joke, which are both valid points.
Santino is calling Kevin Knight a Panther, which is very true, as he is incredibly agile. The needle mover Bully Ray then comes into frame, and we continue the storyline with PCO, as Bully begs for the No DQ match to be called off. Myers then asks for a match with Shelley, I think it’s set for next week, but they don’t do well in clearing it up. Moose and Myers are quite a fun duo, and continue to show that in this segment, as they list off their Emergence opponents and call them cowards. As Moose calls Kushida a coward, Kevin Knight intervenes, and defends his mentor, which is understandable. Santino sees the tension, and makes Moose vs Kevin Knight for later in the night. Shelley then comes into frame, and grants Myers a title match for next week. Should be good, I think Brian Myers is grossly underrated right now, so it’ll be good match no doubt.
GOOD Jessicka vs Savannah Evans vs Killer Kelly
The two hosses immediately square up, with Kelly being creepy and observant as always. Kelly keeps trying to intervene, but Jessicka pushes her away, saying “you must be this tall to ride these rides”, which was pretty funny. While this match may not have been very long, it was really enjoyable, with every woman getting something in, and the three having a short, but chaotic brawl. MK Ultra continue to bring relevance to the womens tag division, with this being another enjoyable instalment in their story.
Result: Killer Kelly by Pinfall via. DVD
Bailey Higham WR Star Rating – 3.00 Stars
Next is a Dirty Dango promo, this time on Jake Something. Enjoyable promo, I enjoy his unique promo style. Good way to build the feud with Something.
GREAT Moose vs Kevin Knight
This match is presented as a proving grounds for Knight. Moose hit Knight with a nasty sky high early on, which led to a comeback sequence from Knight. The comeback is shorty put to a close, and Moose continues to dominate. The crowd is firmly behind Moose, which is fair enough, as his offence is tremendous here. At one point, Knight goes for a float over DDT, but Moose just tosses him out the ring. Impact then go to picture and picture, which is something new for them, so I can really appreciate them upping production. The crowd finally get behind Knight, after he shows some of his freakish athleticism, with an amazing avalanche hurricane-rana, which he doesn’t even climb up the ropes for. Knight gets an incredible near fall off a code red, after a series of roll-ups. Moose eventually puts Knight away, with a spear that turns Knight inside out.
Result: Moose by Pinfall via. Spear
Bailey Higham WR Star Rating – 3.50 Stars
A backstage interview with the Rascalz is interrupted by the ABC, who accuse them of paying off the Good Hands last week, to attack them. Santino sets up Good Hands vs ABC for next week. I really liked there match at Against All Odds, so this does excite me.
BELOW AVERAGE Eric Young vs Kon
Typical David vs Goliath match here. Big fan of this storyline, and it was good seeing EY overcome the odds. Sadly, it ends with the obvious DQ, which makes sense storyline-wise, so it’s not terrible.
Result: Eric Young by Disqualification
Bailey Higham WR Star Rating – 2.25 Stars
We see The Design recreate their assault from weeks prior on EY, with Deaner sitting upon Young once again. I hope they do more of the cinematic stuff with this rivalry, as I’m not feeling all these assault angles currently.
Joe Hendry and Yuya Uemura, officially form a tag team, with them having a musical montage to show it. I really like these two as an odd couple team. The video was corny, but was also good fun. Also, I’d probably sell my left kidney to see Joe & Yuya as tag champs, so hopefully this goes somewhere.
Crazzy Steve sits down with Tom Hannifan and talks to him about family, and his struggles with his father and his alcoholism. This is a really powerful promo, Steve talks about how his mother was never able to see him sign with Impact, as she took her own life three weeks before he debuted. Steve then says he’s not crazy. Cannot stress enough how powerful this is, highly recommend checking this out, as it’s a side of Crazzy Steve that we’ve never seen before.
We then go to Chris Sabin, who hypes his upcoming match-up at Emergence. He is then interrupted by Samuray Del Sol, who calls himself the greatest luchadore of all time (obviously not true, but we’ll roll with it). Samuray says he wants Rush aswell, although he’s not in the arena, so Sabin challenges him for next week, the match is made.
BELOW AVERAGE No Disqualification: Bully Ray vs Black Taurus
An decent, albeit slow No DQ match. It was fine, nice seeing Taurus get a spotlight here, even if the finish was stupid. Taurus gets pinned after missing a senton, and landing onto a ladder. For the “beast of Decay” I think more should’ve been done to put him down personally.
Result: Bully Ray by Pinfall
Bailey Higham WR Star Rating – 2.00 Stars
After the match, PCO then appears, which is followed by Bully putting him through a table, with the weakest looking chokeslam ever. PCO then immediately gets back up, and scares Bully Ray off. The blow off will probably be a PCO hardcore match, which I hope will justify this feud happening.
Eddie refuses to go his separate ways with Kaz, which leads to Kaz and Eddie agreeing to settle the score in Killer Kowalski’s wrestling school. This sounds like a great blowoff too the rivalry, which I much prefer too them doing a mixed tag.
SANADA vs Jake Something is announced for Emergence. I love Impact Wrestling.
Trinity vs Jody Threat is also announced, which will also be pretty good.
GREAT Tag Team Championship #1 Contenders Tournament Final: Rich Swann and Sami Callihan vs The Rascalz
Two great teams here, no critiques with the in-ring action from me, as it flows as smoothly as you’d expect. My favourite spot of the match was when Callihan spiked Wentz into Miguel, with a Cactus Driver 97. This was a great tag main event, nice to see the Rascalz get the title match. They’ve been getting a good push since their return, so wouldn’t be shocked if they won the belts.
Result: The Rascalz by Pinfall via Upfire Flame
Bailey Higham WR Star Rating – 3.75 Stars
Overall…
A great episode of Impact Wrestling, with three matches that I really recommend checking out. The women’s action was as strong as always, with two really enjoyable contests kicking off the show. The Bully Ray match did weight the show down, but that didn’t take up too much time, so it is what it is. They did well building too next week, and have me hooked, and ready for the matches that they did well in setting up. The main event was great, and is in contention for MOTN with the opener.
Matches: 0.5/1 Stars
Show Structure: 0.5/1 Stars
Atmosphere: 0.5/1 Stars
Storytelling: 0.75/1 Stars
Production/Theme: 0.75/1 Stars
Overall Rating: 3/5 Stars
Photo Credit: Impact Wrestling – August 20th 2023
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