Cazer’s Impact Wrestling Review 4.21.22

We are just days away from Impact’s next PPV event Rebellion and they’ve done a wonderful job building up a big pay per view event. Tonight’s go home show will be interesting as we see The Bullet Club take on Honor No More in an 8 man tag match. We’ll also see Violent By Design square off against Decay. In a preview for the X-Division title match at Rebellion Ace Austin will Team with Mike Bailey to take on the current X-Division champion Trey Miguel and Laredo Kid. With only three matches announced we’re sure to see some exciting surprises on this go home edition of Impact and i’m all for it. With such a big PPV ahead i’m anticipating an interesting go home show tonight.

– We recap recent events leading up to Rebellion including the feud between Moose and Josh Alexander as well as JONAH’s recent rise.

Violent by Design vs. Decay

Taurus and Deaner kick this one off and Taurus immediately gains control of the smaller Deaner. Taurus backs Deaner into the corner and is separated by the referee. Young catches Taurus from behind allowing Deaner to gain control of the match. Deaner hangs up Taurus on the middle rope in tags in Young, they hit a tag team maneuver on Taurus before Young works over Taurus. Young sets Taurus in the corner and tags in Deaner. Deaner drops Taurus and covers him but only scores a two count. Deaner working over the neck of Taurus and turns his attention to the hair forcing the referee to count for a break. Deaner tags in Young who hits a neck breaker and covers Taurus for a two count. Young sets Taurus up and goes for a legdrop off the middle rope. Taurus rolls out of the way just in time. Both men make a tag and Crazy Steve runs wild on Deaner dropping him with a running crossbody. Deaner sends Taurus into the corner but he escapes and looks for a suplex, Deaner dodges but is sent to the mat and Steve uses his legs to snap his neck sideways. Deaner to his feet and Steve takes a bite out of Deaners head sending him into the corner, Steve drops Young then hits Deaner with a cannonball in the corner. Steve with a unique move out of the corner and covers for a two count only for Eric Young to break it up with an elbow drop out of nowhere. Taurus shoves Young into the corner and runs at him knee first in the corner. Young dodges and Taurus hits the turnbuckle pad instead. Taurus rolls to the outside and Doring drops Taurus. Back in the ring Steve gets hit with the VBD flag pole while the referee is distracted. Deaner with the Deaner DDT on Steve and covers him for the victory.
Rating: ***
Review: This was a really great opening match between two solid Impact teams. VBD are beginning their run as tag champs and need solid wins like this over legit teams like Decay. This was a fun back and forth and they let you believe Decay could win and VBD even had to get a little cheap to seal the deal here. 

– We get a full recap of Josh vs. Moose, these hype videos have been really well done but I do think we might be overplaying this particular feud. It is a really long lasting feud so i’m probably being picky but i’ll be damned if I havent seen a variation of this hype video at least five times now. Which may not seem like too much but to me it is. That said it IS the most important feud in the company and it IS important to let viewers who may not be all caught up know what has happened. I’m simply speaking from personal preference though I understand why it’s being done.

– We get a video package for Under Siege, Impact’s next live Impact Plus event airing on Saturday May 7th.

– During the break Rosemary and Havok check on Taurus and Crazy Steve, while her back is turned Rosemary is caught with a shot from Tasha Steelz who hits her with the championship. Savanah Evans nails Havok with a shot and they dip before they can respond.

– The Major Players come out with Chelsea Green to a chorus of Boo’s from the crowd. Cardona says it’s no surprise he’s in the ECW Arena because he’s the deathmatch king, he gets a mild boo from the crowd but nothing compared to when he says it in GCW. It’s interesting Impact bothers cutting to crowd shots because it always looks weird. Cardona explains that he helped Meyers because he wanted to re-align with his former tag team partner. Meyers explains that while they’ve had issues in the past in Impact they’ve put everything aside and are the best versions of themselves now. Chelsea says as individuals they were all champions and everything people could talk about, but together they are the strongest unit in professional wrestling. Cardona says last week they got the tables and now we’ll never see Morrisey again. Meyers says he and Cardona are taking over impact wrestling. Tony Mamaluke and Little Guido hit the ring to showcase some ECW originals in the 2300 arena. Cardona calls them fellow ECW originals before Guido says his career started in this building and tells Cardona not to disrespect the building or those who bled buckets to pave the way for Cardona. Guido says that this arena isn’t theirs, it’s the fans, he calls them the major sissys not the major players. Cardona says that they haven’t been relevant since ECW died 20 years ago. Guido and Mamaluke drop Cardona and Meyers sending them running. Guido tells Cardona if he has any guts he better put his digital title on the line tonight! Hey I told y’all we might get some surprises and i’m all for this one. We know who is gonna win but this segment was a bunch of fun, Lil Guido was always someone I really enjoyed anytime I saw him in WWE as Nunzio(I never saw his earlier ECW days) so this is a coo little nostalgic match. 

Matt Cardona vs. Guido Maritato

Cardona offers a handshake early but its a sham as he tries to kick Guido in the gut but he catches his leg and rolls him up for a two count. Guido takes Cardona down and wrestles behind him to slap at his head. Cardona regains control before Guido takes him down with a firemans carry covers for a one count. Guido with an armdrag and Cardona stares him down realizing he still has something in the tank. The crowd chants for Guido and Tony Mamaluke tries to get involved before getting chased down by Cardona. Chelsea stops Mamaluke and Cardona goes for a strike before Tony ducks nearly sending Cardona into Chelsea. Guido catches Cardona outside before telling Chelsea to get out of the way. Guido sends Cardona back into the ring but as he’s climbing in himself Cardona kicks the ropes right into his groin dropping him to the outside. Cardona with a running big boot into Guido sending him into the barricade and Guido sells like a damn champ. Cardona sends Guido back into the ring and hangs him up on the middle rope. Cardona rips his shirt off and starts choking at Maritato with the shirt this time. Cardona with a backbody drop on Maritato dropping him hard on his tailbone. Guido sets up in the corner and gets hit with the reboot. Cardona covers but somehow Maritato kicks out at two. Guido to his feet in the opposing corner. Cardona looks for a flying forearm but Guido dodges sending Cardona into the turnbuckle. Guido fires up and drops Cardona with a legsweep and covers for a two count. Cardona sends him into the corner but Guido with a kick to the midsection then hits the Sicilian slice leg drop and covers for a two count. Guido goes for the kiss of Death but Meyers distracts him and the ref, Cardona with the lowblow and radio silence for the victory.
Rating: **1/2
Review: This was fun for what it was but I do have to question Cardona and Meyers being this level of cowards when they should really run through Guido in reality. I don’t mind him getting some offense in but kicking out of the reboot seemed a bit unnecessary given the size difference alone. That said it wasn’t a bad match and didn’t hurt Cardona at all as he is a smarmy heel and it sets up for the post match well.
Post match: Cardona and Meyers lay into Mamaluke and Guido setting up a table for them before W Morrisey comes out for the save. Morrisey sets up Meyers for a chokeslam through the table and after five seconds of stalling Chelsea finally gets in position for the lowblow. Meyers teases the BQE but Jordynne Grace hits the ring to make the save again a bit late. Cardona tries to catch Jordynne from behind but he gets dropped instead. Jordynne tells Morrisey to chokeslam Cardona through the table and he obliges. This is kind of all over the place, but at the end of the day it does make sense and I enjoy everyone involved so it’s good by me. 

– Eddie Edwards talks about his match with Jonathan Gresham before passing the attention to Taven and Bennett who say in two days they’ll show everyone why they came here. Kenny King says theres not a member of Honor No More who doesn’t know how to silence the bang of Bullet Club, King asks how they’re going to shoot them with no bullets in their gun. Fortunately for the bullet club it’s a wrestling match and not a shootout so that shouldn’t be of much concern. 

– We get a sweet promo from JONAH hyping up his match against Ishii he says at Rebellion we’ll see a Dog Fight when the Top Dog faces the Stone Pitbull. I tell you what this match alone is pretty well worth it, I anticipate a legit brawl between these two. They’ve helped make JONAH look like a boss and Ishii has a ton of respect so this should be great.

Shera w/ Raj Singh vs. Gabriel Rodriguez

I don’t expect this to go too long given the size disadvantage but we shall see. Shera immediately chokes up Rodriguez before LAUNCHING him across the ring, thats gotta hurt. SHERA with a HUGEEEEEEEE lifting sit out powerbomb SHEEESH. Shera covers and picks up the win with EASE.
Rating: N/A
Review: I don’t know much about Shera and if i’m honest I feel like i’ve mostly heard bad things but this was SICK he looks like a total bad ass.

– Gujar is backstage with Gia and she asks if he has any regrets for not teaming with Raj. Gujar says he has no reason to regret not teaming with Raj and he says he’s here to make his mark and take his spot in Impact wrestling. Gujar says he is happy for Shera and Raj as long as they stay out of his business. Gujar is an interesting in ring prospect but his interview was a bit lack luster, I just think he needs to deliver with more excitement and energy but that will come with confidence, if not perhaps a decent manager would do wonders. I hope like hell it wasn’t all a build up to feed Gujar to Shera. 

– Moose is backstage and Scott D’Amore demands he delivers a public apology for his actions or he’ll be stripped of his championship. Moose asks if he’d truly strip him for something he did at a non impact event. Moose says he wants assurances that nothing will happen to him if he gives an apology, Scott says Josh’s wife never got any assurances when Moose did what he did but he’ll be there front row to see the apology.

Honor No More vs. The Bullet Club

Honor No More is looking to prove something, and they have had a beef brewing with Bullet Club for a few weeks so now we’re going to see both squads square off to see which is the stronger faction. Vincent and Karl Anderson kick this one off brawling for a bit before Gallows and Bennett tag in, Gallows looks for a splash in the corner on Bennett but eats a big boot. Gallows goes for an elbow drop on Bennett but he rolls out of the way and tags in Taven. Jay White tags in and we see both men get face to face and exchange words before brawling. White backs Taven into the corner and nails him with a chop, he sends him to the opposing corner but Taven reverses out and drops Jay with a huge dropkick. Taven with a chop that drops both men, Bey and King both tag in and lock up. Bey takes the arm of King, and Tom mentions Bey’s recent album release, which is really cool of commentary to do. Bey and King stand toe to toe, Bey sends King into the corner but gets rolled up, Bey rolls through and dropkicks King instead. Bey talks trash prompting Taven to jump into the ring, he goes for a clothesline but Bey moves, Taven exits but Bey gets caught with the king checker by Kenny King, King covers for a two before tagging in Bennett. Bennett with a brainbuster and cover on Bey for a two count throwing up a too sweet in the process. Vincent tags in and lays into Bey with strikes before holding him back from making a tag. Vincent with a german suplex and covers Bey for a two count. Taven tags in and grabs at the hair of Chris Bey before chopping him into the corner, Taven sends Bey to the opposing corner, Bey bounces out looking for a rana but eats a backbreaker and transitions into a neckbreaker on Bey. Taven covers for a two count, Bey tries to make a tag but Taven cuts him off, Bey fights free and manages to tag in Karl. Karl with a clothesline on Taven then Bennett on the apron. Karl looks to launch Taven into the ropes but it’s reversed and Bennett pulls Karl out of the ring while the referee is distracted with Eddie Edwards. Karl is distracted with Maria, Taven with a dive to the outside on Karl as we go to commercial.

Back from break and Jay with a DDT on King before catching Vincent with a spinning suplex. Jay covers for a two count Vincent to his feet and looks for a suplex but White counters. Jay with a side russian legsweep allowing both men to regroup and make tags. Gallows cleans house in the corner before catching Bennett with a splash in the corner followed by a shoulder tackle. Gallows with an awkward kick to the head of Bennett. Karl tags in they set up for magic killer but Taven breaks it up and sends Gallows to the outside. Jay in with the Saito suplex, King in with the tigerdriver, Bey with the art of Finnesse on King, Bey dives to Taven and Vincent on the outside and somehow they missed the shot from every angle. Gun stunn on Bennett, Gallows tags in and they hit Magic Killer on Bennett and cover him for the victory.
Rating: **3/4
Review: This was fine but I feel like we’ve seen some variation of these multiman matches a lot lately. The everyone gets a big spot in followed by the finish felt like clock work. Mid way through I started to wonder which team they’d beat here, I’m surprised it was Bennett taking the pin not Vincent but I guess someone had to lose and I appreciate them giving us a decisive finish. 

– Maclin cuts a serious promo about Sabin and Jay White, he says they both have their groups but they don’t compare to the group he was with. Maclin says at Rebellion it’s tag em bag em mayhem for all. Maclin’s promo work has been solid in Impact, he is someone who has really benefitted from going the Impact route and been able to start to find himself here. His match with Jay could be important especially if he manages to grab a significant victory of that magnitude.

– The Iinspiration cut a promo backstage about their upcoming tag team championship match promising to win as they are the most Iconic, Inspirational tag team of all time.

– Taya Valkyrie is backstage and says she never lost her Reigna de Reignas championship so at Rebellion she will win it back and become a 4 time champion.

Mike Bailey & Ace Austin vs. Trey Miguel & Laredo Kid

Ace seemingly cuts off Bailey during his entrance and Bailey is slightly surprised at Ace’s disrespect but he lets it slide and they make their way to the ring. Ace and Trey kick this one off grappling early before Ace catches Trey with a forearm to the side of the head and starts working over the shoulder of Trey. Trey dances his way to a reversal before tossing Ace into the corner. Laredo Kid and Bailey both tag in and things pick up a bit with some quick action, flips but noone hitting anything until Kid drops Bailey with a rana sending him to the outside. Laredo Kid nearly takes himself out with an INSANE tope but he pops right to his feet so he’s clearly fine. He celebrates his sick move with the crowd as we go to commercial.

Back from break and Bailey has regained control during commercial, he drops both knees right onto the chest of Bailey. We see Ace and Bailey catch Laredo Kid on the outside giving Bailey the advantage in the match again. Bailey lifts Laredo Kid up but he gets sent into the ropes, Ace jumps into the ring and drops Trey off the apron, they try to hit Laredo Kid with a double team move but he reverses out and nails Ace with a rana instead. Laredo Kid sends Bailey to the outside but Ace made the blind tag so he drops Kid with a suplex. Trey tags in and runs through Ace, Trey drops Ace shoulder first onto the rope before dropping him with a dropkick and hitting a kip up. Trey calls for Ace to get up and works over the arm before hitting him with a sweet kip up rana. Trey to the top but Bailey interferes and gets dropped from the top rope, Ace uses the back of Bailey to drop Trey off the top rope with a diving kick. They send Laredo Kid to the outside, we then see Ace and Bailey hit tandem dives onto Kid and Trey. Bailey outshining Ace by landing on his feet. Trey catches Bailey sleeping on the apron and hits a rana on him to the outside. Trey drops Ace on the apron, then hits him with a slam and covers for a two count before Mike Bailey breaks up the pin. Bailey with a big kick to the chest of Trey, then hits the double knee moonsault. Bailey sets Trey up and stalls so Laredo Kid can break it up. Ace drops Kid and waits for Trey to get up. Ace charges Trey but gets rolled up and Trey picks up the win after laying way back to lock it in.
Rating: ***
Review: This was a sweet tag team X-Division match between two awesome teams. I like that they did a lot to keep Trey and Bailey separated for the most part, I would’ve tried to keep them from touching at all but they did a good job overall. I love the X-Division matches, this was another great one. It has been a bit odd how many timing issues we’ve had this week, either I havent noticed or this week it’s been happening more often than usual. 
Post match: Ace Austin attacks Trey after the match, Mike Bailey gets on the apron as Ace tells him to get in and help him. Ace holds Trey up for Bailey to kick him, he sets it up but then drops Ace instead! We get a speedball chant from the crowd and Mike Bailey taunts before heading to the back.

– Honor No More are backstage and they say they’ll bounce back. Vincent walks away and says he has some business to attend to. We get some somber music as Vincent heads to a car and grabs jumper cables. It gets dark before we get some angelic singing and we see Vincent checking over a body, we see it’s PCO he connects the cables to a box and starts to spark them, Vincent says this is it and connects them to PCO’s head, he says we need monsters like PCO, Vincent wills PCO back and he finally sits up with his eyes rolled back and lightning in the distance. Vincent dances around saying he’s not Human. That was pretty awesome, but it was also a bit wacky so I can see people viewing it two different ways. I would’ve liked if they had PCO not sit up immediately then show signs of being alive at the end or straight up waiting and letting him return later for a big pop. This was a great video package all things said. 

– It’s time for Moose’s public apology and Security is here as well as Scott D’Amore. D’Amore is wearing his headset, I wish he was a heel because there’s nothing in wrestling that is that simple that I hate more in any promotion. It drives me nuts. Moose comes out, we get a serious camera angle before a person in the crowd just kind of laughs as he comes out right in the view of the camera. Moose introduces us to his attorney who will be reading his public apology. R.D. Evans has the mic and he asks for respect before reading Moose’s message. Evans explains that he knows his actions exceed the bounds of professionalism, Moose grabs the mic and says this isn’t sincere enough he says if they’re going to do it he’s going to do it right. He takes the paper and tosses it out of the ring. Moose says Josh deserves a sincere apology. He tells Josh he is sorry, for showing all of these people how much of a loser he is. He’s sorry for exposing him as not being a protector to his wife or a role model to his kids. Moose tells RD to step aside because he’s not done yet. Moose says he’s not sorry for whooping that ass at Bound for Glory and being the face of this company. Moose says that Josh calls himself the face of Impact Wrestling but he can’t even protect his damn family. Moose says he’s sorry for what he’s about to do to him at Rebellion and send him home for much longer. Moose tells Josh he’s going to beg him to go to his house and show his pitiful wife and pitiful kids what a real man looks like.

That’s the last straw as Josh hits the ramp, he looks at Security and beats their ass as they come at him. Scott stands in front of Josh and tells Security to step aside. Scott puts his dumb headset on his neck before stepping aside so Josh can hit the ring. Josh gets in the ring and RD tries to hold him back. They start exchanging blows in the center of the ring. Moose tosses RD into Josh and sends him into the corner but Josh bursts out with a series of boots to Moose, Moose ducks one and drops Josh with a Urinage. Moose rips his shirt off before hitting Josh with another urinage. Honestly if it’s that easy he should do fifty to Josh and take Saturday off. Moose sets up a table near ringside, Moose lifts Josh up he goes for another urinage but Josh fights free, he kicks at the face of Moose before setting him up for a piledriver, Josh hits the C4 spike on Moose through the table. Moose almost died probably. That was freaking nuts. I’m sure they’re both fine but that was scary as hell.

-That was a good way to end the go home show but man the crowd did them NO favors, i’m not sure how long this taping was but they didn’t react for anything during that brawl. There were a few chants but that was on them. I don’t love having Josh and Moose brawling and using a big spot like that before the PPV but if they’re going to do it they need the crowd to give them that energy otherwise it feels a tad bit flat. I’ll say the fact they waited so long for these two to really brawl I would’ve loved for Josh to come out and say he’s learned to not let Moose get in his head and he’ll wait till Rebellion. I get why they did it but at this point one more week of them not getting physical wouldn’t have hurt anything. It doesn’t really hurt to have them brawl though as they’ve had matches before so it’s not ‘brand new’ but it still felt nice to hold it off at the very least just again the crowd should’ve been way more excited for that. I’m really interested in the match at Rebellion it feels like Josh’s championship to lose but honestly i’d be surprised to see Moose lose, hopefully we get a clear winner and a great match.

7.2

The final score: review Good

The 411

This week was still pretty solid in ring wise but I did feel like we took a small step back from a top to bottom great show last week. I enjoyed what we got but I also noticed a lot of timing hiccups that threw off moments in quite a few matches. It was never awful but just things I noticed this week that I usually don't. I think Impact is in a great spot right now and I am very interested to see what direction they go after Rebellion. I could see a number of things happening and the one thing I really enjoy about Impact is the PPVs and the tapings that come shortly after. This was a good go home show with solid wrestling and a good closing segment that the crowd wasn't too hot for but I was.