wrestling / TV Reports
Himanshu’s Impact Wrestling Review 04.20.23
Image Credit: Impact Wrestling
Loading...Hey there, IMPACT fans! It’s Thursday and that means it’s time for another episode of IMPACT Wrestling. I’m Himanshu (you can follow me on @Himanshu_Doi) and you know how this works. Tonight, new IMPACT World Champion Steve Maclin will participate in a Changing of the Guard Ceremony to celebrate his historic victory, the Digital Media Championship is on the line, as Joe Hendry defends against Sheldon Jean, Moose goes one-on-one with Yuya Uemura, The Good Hands battle Frankie Kazarian in a 2-on-1 match and Time Machine, the team of Kushida and The Motor City Machine Guns go against the trio of Mike Bailey, Jonathan Gresham and X-Division Champion Trey Miguel. So let’s jump right in!
As a reminder, the GoFundMe for Larry’s daughters is still active and if you can make a donation, that would be awesome. Thank you so much to everyone who’s done so thus far.
IMPACT Wrestling
Location: Rebel Entertainment Complex, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Date: 20th April, 2023
Match 1: Kushida and The Motor City Machine Guns vs Mike Bailey, Jonathan Gresham and Trey Miguel
Gresham and Shelley start off and exchange arm wringers until they have a stand off. They tag out to Sabin and Bailey. Sabin takes down Bailey and tags to Kushida but Bailey pushes Kushida in his corner where Miguel tags himself in. Kushida gets Trey in an arm wringer and tags to Shelley and they all take turns wringing Trey’s arm until Trey breaks it up and tags to Bailey. Kushida and Shelley get Bailey in a Cobra Clutch/Boston Crab submission and Sabin hits a running basement dropkick on Bailey. Shelley distracts the referee and Sabin yanks Bailey’s arm against the top rope. Bailey whips Shelley into the ropes and hits a kick. Bailey looks for a tag but Kushida runs in kicks both of Bailey’s partners out. Sabin hits a Suicide Dive to the outside as we go to commercial.
Back from commercial and Bailey hits a combination of kicks on Shelley. Bailey gets the tag to Gresham and he exchanges shoulder blocks with Kushida. Gresham hits a moonsault and a jawbreaker followed by a bridging German Suplex for a near fall. Trey Miguel took out the Guns with a suicide dive. Bailey hit a springboard somersault onto everyone on the outside. Kushida gets a Hoverboard Lock on Trey but he gets his foot on the bottom rope. Sabin has a Boston Crab on Bailey while Shelley has a crossface on Gresham as we go to another commercial break.
Back from commercial and Kushida tags to Sabin who hits a Missile Dropkick on Trey who tags to Bailey. Sabin hits a running boot on Bailey in the corner. Sabin and Bailey exchange forearms. Bailey hits a Spanish Fly on Sabin for a near fall. Bailey hits a somersault double knees on Sabin. Bailey looks for the Tornado Kick but Sabin catches his leg and hits a German Suplex off the top rope. Trey fights Gresham for who gets the tag and Trey gets it but gets cleared with a clothesline. Sabin looks for a powerbomb but gets hit with an Ultima Weapon by Bailey. Sabin and Kushida hit Stereo Dropkicks on Trey and Sabin hits the Cradle Shock on Trey for the win.
Result: Kushida and The Motor City Machine Guns def. Mike Bailey, Jonathan Gresham and Trey Miguel by pinfall
Rating: ****
Gia Miller is backstage with Santino Marella and asks him if he’s gonna keep wrestling after Rebellion. Santino says he will from time to time. Alisha shows up and asks what he will do about PCO. Santino asks her why she is not in her gear because she has a match coming up. Swinger and Zicky Dice show up and ask for a match. Zicky says he has brought the world’s best luchador. Santino says he cannot bring them as it would be expensive. Zicky says he will cover their transportation. Santino allows them to have the match.
A vignette airs for Deonna Purrazzo who says it’s the Age of the Virtuosa.
Match 2: Alisha Edwards vs Tara Rising
Alisha throws Tara around. Alisha hits a clothesline and throws Tara outside the ring and pushes her back first against the apron before throwing her back in. Alisha hits an implant buster for the win.
Result: Alisha Edwards def. Tara Rising by pinfall
Rating: **
Alisha Edwards attacks Tara after the match but Jody Threat shows up and throws Alisha away. Alisha retreats.
Jody tells Tara backstage not to let anyone take advantage of her. She says she will take care of Alisha.
Match 3: Moose (w/Brian Myers) vs Yuya Uemura (w/Bhupinder Gujjar)
Moose pushes Yuya into the corner and hits him with tackles in the corner. Yuya goes for a crossbody on the outside but Myers catches it. Moose hits Yuya with a powerbomb on the apron. Back in the ring and Yuya hits chops on Moose but Moose hits an Uranage. Moose slaps Yuya across the face but Yuya hits his own slaps. Moose throws Yuya over the top rope and Yuya hits a forearm but Myers grabs his leg and Moose hits a big boot. Yuya hits a running forearm on Moose and a running crossbody on Moose in the corner. Yuya hits a bulldog from the second rope. Yuya hits a German Suplex followed by a slam for two. Yuya goes to the top rope but is thrown down by Moose. Moose goes to the top but Yuya catches him and hits the double underhook overhead suplex for a near fall. Yuya goes to the top rope but Moose runs to the top. Yuya fights him off and hits a crossbody but Myers has the referee distracted. Gujjar takes down Myers. Moose hits a spear for the win.
Result: Moose def. Yuya Uemura by pinfall
Rating: ***¼
Jimmy Jacobs is backstage interviewing Nick Aldis. Aldis talks about having a bad gimmick when he started and wrestling in TNA for 6 years and winning the World Championship. He said he hadn’t come close to his full potential so he went away. Now he’s back and he’s coming for the recognised symbol of excellence, the IMPACT World Championship. He is asked if he will be at Maclin’s Changing of the Guard Ceremony. Aldis said he won’t but he’ll always be watching.
Match 4: Kazarian vs The Good Hands
Skyler said at Rebellion, Maclin assaulted them even though they weren’t participants. He said this is why they challenged Kazarian to a 2-on-1 match. He said this house was built brick-by-brick by two Good Hands.
Hotch hits a Suicide Dive on Kazarian, throws him back in the ring and hits punches on Kazarian. Jack Hotch hits a Chaos Theory Suplex and Skyler pins him for two. Kazarian drops Skyler with a clothesline. He hits a scoop slam followed by a springboard leg drop on Hotch. Kazarian hits a codebreaker on Hotch and hits a springboard cutter on Hotch and locks in the chickenwing on Skyler who taps.
Result: Kazarian def. The Good Hands by submission
Rating: **¾
A vignette for the Coven and Kilynn says the cards say something new is coming. Wilde asks if the cards say anything about Deonna. Kilynn say it doesn’t. Taylor says the Age of the Virtuosa is going down.
A hand-cam promo by Sami Callihan who said he played The Design like a fiddle. His plan was to destroy the Design. Sami Callihan says he is going to destroy every one of their lives. He says he is coming for them and he will destroy The Design.
Match 5: Joe Hendry vs Sheldon Jean for the IMPACT Digital Media Championship
Hendry says the Digital Media Champion has once again graced Toronto with his presence. He says Sheldon was on Big Brother. He says Sheldon lasted only 4 weeks, but everyone can last a lifetime in Hendry’s House. All they have to do is believe.
Hendry takes Sheldon down with an armlock and Sheldon gets him in a headlock but Hendry kips up. Hendry hits a shoulder block and goes for a stalling suplex but Sheldon pokes him in the eye. Sheldon hits a dropkick and lays into Hendry with forearms. Hendry fights back with chops and hits a cutter. Hendry hits a fallaway slam and hits for a Standing Ovation for the win.
Result: Joe Hendry def. Sheldon Jean by pinfall to retain the IMPACT Digital Media Championship
Rating: **½
Hendry makes his way out with his private security for his Changing of the Guard Ceremony. He says in February 2021, his back was against the wall. He had to figure out who he wanted to become. And IMPACT gave him an opportunity and he kicked that door down. And he made it clear from day one that he wants to become IMPACT World Champion. He said the name they were chanting was around the same time and he became the longest reigning World Champion. He says his mission isn’t complete as there is still one step left. He says it is to be the longest reigning IMPACT World Champion in his hometown. He says he is putting up an open challenge to anyone in this country as long as they’re Canadian. He taunts some of the people in the crowd before Scott D’Amore’s music hits. The private security stop him but Maclin tells them to step aside. Scott says he’s talking about opportunities but he forgot who gave him those opportunities. He says he recognised that he could be future World Champion. He says he never stepped up to Josh Alexander and now he’s putting up an open challenge to anyone in Canada, but asks if that is to humiliate Canada or because he is ducking Nick Aldis. Maclin says everything he does is for a purpose. Maclin says Scott wants to talk about Nick Aldis. He asks when he traded his balls for a headset. Scott says at Rebellion he had every opportunity to face him at Rebellion and he did nothing. He said Maclin waited until he turned his back and attacked him like a coward. Scott says he rarely makes the same mistake twice. He says Maclin wants to face Canadian, then at Under Siege will face the perfect Canadian, Perfect Creation One. PCO’s music hits and he comes out but the private security beat him down. A table is tossed into the ring. PCO takes doen the security and PCO hits a DDT on Maclin and goes for a powerbomb but Maclin leaves the ring. PCO spears two of the security into a table. Maclin and PCO stare off to end the show.
