wrestling / TV Reports

Cazer’s Impact Wrestling Review 5.5.22

May 5, 2022 | Posted by Andrew Cazer
Impact Wrestling PCO JONAH Image Credit: Impact Wrestling
7.6
The 411 Rating
Community Grade
12345678910
Your Grade
Loading...
Cazer’s Impact Wrestling Review 5.5.22  

We’re only two days away from Impact’s next Impact Plus show with Under Siege on May 7th. That show is sure to be an exciting one but before we get there we have a big show on our hands tonight. We will see the culmination of the feud between JONAH and PCO in a Monster’s Ball match. JONAH is coming off a loss to Ishii at the latest PPV but beyond that he’s been on a roll since joining Impact. Speaking of Ishii tonight he will face off with Steve Maclin before he challenges for the Impact Championship at Under Siege. Maclin has been dominant recently so this is sure to be a great back and forth match between the two. We will also see the issues between Brian Meyers and W. Morrisey come to a head when they square off in a tables match. Morrisey recently appeared for AEW taking on Wardlow after being paid off by MJF. Now he returns to the Impact ring to settle his own business. We’ll also see the Bullet Club vs. Rich Swann & Willie Mack as well as an X-Division Championship match when Ace Austin defends against Rocky Romero after Romero talked Ace into it a week ago. Quite the card with a big show on the horizon so anything can happen let’s get to it!

– They recap the sweet main event from last week and show us the showdown between Josh and Ishii to close out the show. We then see a recap of the issues between Morrisey and Meyers as well as PCO and JONAH. I wonder if both of these feuds will come to a close tonight, seems odd to do with an Impact+ event just days away but I can see where they might want to go this way.

Tables Match
W. Morrisey vs. Brian Meyers

I hope this is the end of this feud but something tells me it isn’t. Meyers just does NOTHING for me in Impact and maybe that means his heel work is working but i’m just consistently unimpressed whenever he’s involved. Alternatively Morrisey has been on a great run since joining Impact and should be ready to move on from this. With Cardona joining the feud it does become more intriguing so I don’t mind if it continues but I would love for Morrisey to move on. Hoping Morrisey runs through Meyers but I see shenanigans a plenty in our future. They start this one off just exchanging strikes and that doesn’t work for Meyers as he gets backed up into the corner and taken to work by Morrisey. Morrisey with a splash and sidewalk slam combination before getting the crowd to pop for the big guy as he taunts Meyers. Morrisey to the outside to grab a table and he’s wasting no time. Meyers with a crossbody to the outside and he goes right into some right hands on Morrisey before sliding the table into the ring. Meyers lifts Morrisey up and eats a right hand from the big guy. Morrisey lifts Meyers up and sends him face first into the apron. Morrisey taunts and then goes to grab Meyers, Meyers with a strike but Morrisey quickly back on the offense and lays into Meyers with some rights before fist bumping a hyped up fan. Morrisey with a backdrop onto the apron and some more taunting. Morrisey grabs another table because the first one isn’t enough. Morrisey sets up another table and Meyers with a shot to the back of Morrisey, he finishes setting it up and approaches Morrisey but takes a knee to the midsection. Morrisey points out the table and the crowd is hyped for it. Morrisey lifts Meyers up for the powerbomb through the table but Meyers counters and runs away into the ring. Morrisey follows and gets hung up on the top rope, Meyers has Morrisey ready to go through the table but instead suplexes him into the ring. Meyers can’t lift Morrisey so he kind of just drags him over. Meyers screams he’s the most professional wrestler as his voice cracks. Morrisey doesn’t care and hits him with a big boot. Morrisey lifts Meyers up for the BQE through the table on the outside but Cardona hits the ring and knocks over the table. Morrisey turns his attention to Cardona but the numbers get to him and he gets jumped by the douchebag duo. They hit Morrisey with a double suplex but he gets up pretty quick and drops them both with a flurry of clotheslines. He follows that with various splashes in the corner to both Morrisey and Meyers. Cardona and Morrisey both walk into a double chokeslam from Morrisey. Chelsea Green shows up and tries to grab the digital media title, Morrisey grabs her and sets her up for the BQE but Meyers and Cardona make the quick save. The trio set up the table and Meyers sets his commentary banner on top of it. Meyers chokes Morrisey with Cardona’s shirt and drags him to the apron. Meyers and Cardona set him up for the double powerbomb but he escapes from them. Morrisey goes after Meyers but takes a big kick to the nads. Chelsea holds Morrisey up by his hair while Cardona and Meyers try to ram a table through Morrisey but he moves just in time so they just break it on the ring post. That was creative but I didn’t love it. Cardona cowers up the entrance ramp and gets jumped by Jordynne Grace from behind. She backs Cardona into the ring and Morrisey joins her in beating him down. Morrisey sets up a table so Jordynne can put Cardona through it. Morrisey helps Jordynne set Cardona up for a powerbomb, Morrisey with a big boot to Cardona off Jordynnes shoulders through a table. Chelsea gets involved but Jordynne runs her off to the back. Meyers catches Morrisey lacking and lays into him with half of a broken table. Meyers calls for Morrisey to get up, he does and Meyers runs right into a big black hole slam. Morrisey lifts Meyers up and throws him from the inside of the ring through a table outside and really launches him. Meyers falls right on the back of his head and Morrisey wins in 10:42.

Rating: ***1/4
Review: I expected the shenanigans but they all made sense and went well. This seems to be the end of Morrisey dealing with Cardona and Meyers so that’s awesome. Morrisey looked like a bad ass as he should and Jordynne assisting was cool. It was a gimmick match so they would’ve had to really mess some stuff up or have horrible booking for me to rate it negatively. Solid way to open up Impact.

– Willie Mack and Rich Swann are backstage with Gia, Willie says that they have to deal with the bullet club, and they have bullets but they don’t got the gun. Cardona interrupts and Gia says this is an interview, he says he doesn’t care. Swann takes offense to this and lets Cardona know. Cardona tells Swann maybe if he was more like him he might still be world champion. Swann challenges Cardona for his digital media championship. Cardona changes the subject and says he has to get Meyers to the hospital before rushing off with him.

X-Division Championship
Rocky Romero vs. Ace Austin (c)

We’re keeping things moving at a high pace as we get right into championship action. Rocky talked his way into this one by trash talking Ace and getting Scott D’Amore to make the match, how will Ace fare in the first defense of his third reign as X-Division champion. Ace continues to come out on his own no longer accompanied by Madman Fulton, wonder if that means he’s done with impact or maybe on the shelf. Traditional grappling to kick this one off, Ace tries to gain the upper hand but eats some chops in the corner instead. Rocky with the headlock takedown, Ace to his feet and sends Rocky into the ropes, Rocky baseball slides under Ace and drops him then follows with a dropkick. Ace in the corner to regroup and Rocky with a kick then sending him to the other side of the ring. Ace bounces back and hits Rocky with a series of kicks that drop him. Rocky and Ace exchange strikes. Rocky winds up but follows with an eye poke on Ace. Rocky catches Ace in the corner with the forever clotheslines but ACE counters after two with a springboard dropkick Ace covers for two just as we head to commercial. Back from break, Ace and Rocky exchange strikes, Ace with a shoulder block to Rocky in the corner. Ace tries to irish whip Rocky into the corner but he blocks it, he tries again Rocky counters, Ace slides to the outside and Rocky quickly follows with a dive to Ace on the outside. Rocky sends Ace back into the ring, Ace tries to roll out and hit a strike but Rocky drops him instead. Ace sends Rocky face first into the apron then hits him with a dropkick. Rocky tries to sweep the legs of Ace but he jumps and lands on one arm before dodging another move and hitting Rocky sending him to the floor. Ace waits for the countout victory but Rocky’s to his feet early. Ace attempts a dive and both men go down. Rocky sends Ace into the ring and hits a springboard tornado DDT. Rocky covers for a two count, Ace to his feet but Rocky drops him with sliced bread and covers yet again for a two count. Rocky sets Ace up on the ropes on the apron before heading up top. Ace counters and tries to hit Rocky with a springboard kick. Rocky catches him and locks in a boston crab. Ace makes it to the ropes but Rocky wastes little time looking for a suplex, Ace counters but Rocky hits him with a strike and goes for it again. Ace with a strike to counter out and then drops Rocky with a spin kick. Ace calls for it and hits Rocky with the Fold. Ace covers for the victory in 11:39.
Rating: ***1/2
Review: This was a great X-Division championship match as would be expected between these two. Rocky’s always great and Ace can go this was a great showcase for him ahead of the Best of the Super Jr. If Ace didn’t just become X-Division champion I would’ve bought into Rocky winning and even at points it did feel like it could go that way. Glad Ace won but that was a lot of fun.
Post match: Trey Miguel hits the ring and drops Ace, he tells him to keep the X-Division championship warm for him because his days are numbered. Trey is cashing in his rematch at Under Siege and he plans to leave as a two time X-Division champion.

– Gia is backstage with Josh Alexander and she asks how he feels about his upcoming match with Ishii, he says that he once stood here as X-Division champion telling her he’d one day be the face of the company and now he’s just that. As the face he has to be ready for all challenges, he puts over Ishii and says he’ll be watching his match tonight but at Under Siege he will retain the championship and show he’s the best wrestler on earth.

– We get another EGV video package this time with a date, I hope they change it up if this is gonna go till mid July.

Masha Slamovich vs. Damaris

I nearly forgot all about Masha in Impact, primarily because she only appears for a short bit, wins quickly and continues on. It’s been great but it’s been rather forgetable as they haven’t done anything else with her. Damaris with some offense early but Masha literally eats every punch and then drops her with a belly to belly suplex. Masha lifts Damaris up and drops her with the Snowplow before covering for the victory in :54.
Rating: N/A
Review: It’s time for something new for Masha because she’s too good to just arrive job someone out and leave, it’s not hurting her but i’m ready for a traditional feud for her.

– Rahj Singh is backstage with Shera to call out Bhupinder and let him know that he could’ve aligned with Singh but it’s too late now, Shera talks tough and they let him know to stay out of their way or Shera will take care of him.

– The Bricoes are backstage they warn VBD they have two days left as Tag Champions, they say where they go they run the show. Jay continues to cut a promo saying that we’re looking at the new champions before Eric Young interrupts with a video of his own seemingly hacked into the program. Eric says they’re brothers by circumstance but they are brothers by choice and champions by design. Eric says they will show them that this world does belong to them.

Bullet Club vs. Willie Mack & Rich Swann

Swann and Mack look to bounce back against the team of Bey and Jay White who have done pretty well for themselves recently commentary questions if Swann’s head is in the right spot after getting into it with Cardona earlier in the night. Jay and Swann kick this one off, Jay starts off with the upper hand but Swann’s quickness quickly gets him out of trouble as he dodges White and drops him with a dropkick. Swann and Mack send Jay into the ropes and drop him with a double team, Mack covers for a two count but Jay kicks out just in time. Mack follows right into knees to the spine of Jay. Mack with flipping neckbreaker on the seat Jay, he covers for a two count. Mack tags in Swann and he nails Jay with a big kick to the midsection. Swann with the irish whip but Jay counters sending Swann into the rope, Bey with a knee to the back, Jay sends Swann onto the apron, Bey drops Swann to the outside and then lays into him with a series of strikes while the referee is distracted. Jay sends Swann to the outside and they do it AGAIN, I get the heel work of it all but making the ref look like a complete goof like this isn’t always great. Bey tags in and sends Swann to the outside to get attacked by Jay. Jay sends Swann back into the ring and Bey covers but it’s only a two count. They go for it again and thankfully Swann counters unfortunately the crowds just sick of the spot so no pop. Swann scrambles for a tag but Jay and Bey keep trying to cut him off. Jay knocks Willie off the apron to prevent the tag. A small kid asks “what was that for” and I agree. Swann with a backbody drop to Jay and looks for the tag but Mack is down off the apron. Jay tries to cut Swann off again but gets dropped allowing Swann to make the tag. Bey tags in and runs into Willie Mack. Mack with a scoop slam and taunts but Jay White breaks it up and sends Mack into the ropes they look for the double clothesline but Mack counters dropping both with a double clothesline of his own. Mack with a samoan drop, kip up on Bey. Swann with a dive onto Bey and Mack with a standing moonsault and covers for a two count. Jay White gets involved and drops mack with a ddt. Swann sends Jay to the outside but Bey sends him out as well. Bey rolls through looking for a monkey flip instead diving into a tbone suplex. Mack sends Bey into the ropes for a pop up powerbomb but Jay gets involved and drops Mack with a suplex. He lifts Mack up for Art of Finesse, Bey hits and covers for the victory in 6:28.
Rating: ***
Review: This was a good tag match between two solid teams. I am not a big fan of Swann or Mack but I appreciate what they can do in the ring, that said the right team won here and I never really doubted that for a second. Not a match i’m clamoring to see again but another solid match.
Post match: Jay and Bey celebrate their win but they get jumped by Honor No More. Which team would be the heel group in all of this? I get it’s probably the Bullet Club but they literally just spent the entire match heeling it up. The Good Brothers hit the ring to make the save allowing the Bullet Club to send Honor No More out of the ring looking like complete punks. 

– Tasha and Savannah Evans get haunted by The Decay in a well done backstage segment. The Decay stuff never does anything for me and this is more of the same but the video is well done and executed well I just get that their schtick doesn’t do it for me. I do think Tasha vs. Rosemary should be a good match but I don’t know that i’m ready for the championship to change hands again so i’ll be hoping Tasha can retain.

– We get a Deonna Purazzo hype video discussing her successes while Taya Valkyrie was sent packing. Taya responds and says Deonna doesn’t realize that she doesn’t know anything about her history as Reigna de Reignas champion. Deonna says the champion makes the championship while Taya says she would’ve never won if Taya didn’t vacate the championship. A solid hype package for their upcoming match at Under Siege.

Steve Maclin vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Dis gon’ be good. I have loved Maclin’s work in Impact and Ishii is always awesome. If they get the time some of these other matches on the card have gotten it’ll be a banger. Maclin with a headlock early, he’s sent into the ropes looks for a shoulder block but Ishii isn’t staggered, they both try for shoulder blocks and neither budges. They exchange forearms early and just lay into each other for a solid twenty seconds. Maclin gains the upper hand, he goes for another shoulder block Ishii staggers into the ropes he bounces back and drops Maclin with a shoulder block of his own dropping Maclin. Ishii sends Maclin into the ropes and drops him with a powerslam on the rebound. Maclin slides to the outside to regroup as we go to break. Back from break and we’re right back where we started with Maclin and Ishii exchanging forearms again, Ishii gets the better of Maclin and sends him into the corner but runs into a urinage. Maclin slow to cover and gets a two for his indecisiveness. Maclin stomps on the back of Ishii and continues to work his lower back with forearms. Maclin lifts Ishii up for a urinage into a backbreaker over his knee. Maclin lifts Ishii up and Ishii fights back with chops on Maclin, Ishii with an irish whip Maclin counters and drops him with a back elbow. Maclin covers for a two count before locking in a chinlock on Ishii. Ishii tries to fight free and finally gets his boot on the bottom rope to break the hold. Maclin lifts Ishii up and hits him with a suplex before covering for a two count. Ishii to his feet and lays into Maclin with a series of strikes, Ishii takes one forearm and falls to the mat. Ishii looks for a suplex but Maclin fights free then hits him with a clothesline in the corner, he bounces off the ropes looking for another but Ishii counters with a back suplex. Ishii with chops on Maclin in the corner prompting Maclin to scream and ask for more and Ishii obliges. Ishii sends Maclin into the corner and hits him with a lariat, Maclin counters an irish whip sending Ishii to the corner but he bounces out and drops Maclin with a shoulder block. Ishii goes for a suplex but Maclin counters into an olympic slam. Maclin covers for a two count. Maclin right into a boston crab on Ishii the crowd chants for Ishii to will him to the bottom rope and break the hold. Maclin lets Ishii back to his feet and goes for a lariat but Ishii eats it and drops Maclin with a german suplex. Maclin ducks an enziguri and drops Ishii with a suplex and lariat, Maclin covers for a close two count. Maclin signals for the end and lifts Ishii up for Mayhem for All but Ishii counters and hits Maclin with a headbutt, Maclin staggers Ishii off the ropes and drops him on the back of his neck with a SICK lariat. Ishii with the brainbuster and covers Maclin for the victory in 13:58.
Rating: ***3/4
Review: This was really good for an Impact televised match, I hope i’m not underrating it as I did feel it was good but not necessarily great or out of this world. It started a tad slow and took a minute to get going and never really got to a next level but it was still a great match and the longer it got the better it got. They did a great job keeping Maclin strong despite coming up short something I was asking myself about as the match began if they were hurting themselves feeding JONAH then Maclin to Ishii before a match with Josh but I think it works out making these guys look great even in defeat.

– Swinger is outside of his dungeon with Zicky Dice and gives him some weird ball gag toy to wear, a hot chick on her way to the dungeon gets Zicky all jazzed up. I don’t always love Swinger or Zicky because of stuff like this but it is nice that they do things to keep even the jobbers relevant adds a bit to the character overall.

Monsters Ball
JONAH vs. PCO

The referees are backstage and they let PCO and JONAH know they are ready for them and the brawl begins as Jonah attacks PCO and wraps a chain around his throat to choke him out. We are told that both men have been pent up for one week in preparation for this match. They fight off screen and we can only hear them attacking each other. PCO beats PCO up a stair well, JONAH counters and sends PCO face first into a hand rail as they make their way towards the ring. PCO gets to the top of the stairs and JONAH catches him with a splash into the wall. Finally they make their way into the ring area as PCO and JONAH fight at the top of the ramp. PCO shoves JONAH to the edge of the stage and looks for a chokeslam but JONAH counters out and they continue to brawl at the top of the stage as the crowd chants PCO is not human. JONAH and PCO fight down the ramp with PCO taking the upper hand with right hands to the head of JONAH. The top dog gets to his feet and lays into PCO with forearms of his own and staggers him with a headbutt. JONAH with a suplex on the ramp as we go to break. Tom tells us that this is the 53 Monsters Ball match and i’m not going to lie I feel like that’s way too many considering the only ones I remember involve Jeff Hardy and Abyss. Back from break and Hannifan also shouting out Abyss and Jeff Hardy, I forgot about Rhino but I definitely don’t think of Tommy Dreamer though i’m sure he’s been in plenty of these matches before. JONAH starts to set up the steel chairs in the corner as a makeshift stable. PCO tries to cut JONAH off but he sets him up on the chairs. JONAH heads up top but gets cut off by PCO again and this time is hit with a rana off the top through the steel chairs in the center of the ring. JONAH slides out of the ring in pain but he grabs a sledge hammer from under the ring smashing it into the head and neck of PCO. Good on JONAH to take back the sledgehammer for all the non WWE wrestlers. Hannifan says this is THE GAME JONAH wants to play, a bit much if you ask me. JONAH sets up another chair and the crowd starts cheering for PCO. JONAH sets PCO up in the chair before bouncing off the ropes and splashing himself into PCO through the chair. JONAH grabs a ladder and sets it up in the corner. JONAH weakly tosses PCO into a chair set up on the ground. JONAH picks him up and drops him onto the ladder in the corner with the back of his head/neck hitting first. JONAH pulls out a table and sets it up outside of the ring. They exchange strikes on the apron, JONAH rakes the eyes and sets PCO on his shoulders but PCO escapes. PCO has him teetering but JONAH with a headbutt on PCO. JONAH back into the ring but PCO lays into him with strikes then follows with a DDT into the trash can. JONAH slides outside but PCO follows with a senton to the outside taking both men out. PCO sets JONAH up on the apron before heading to the top, PCO hits the deanimator on JONAH, JONAH slides to the center of the ring and PCO sets up for the legdrop, he covers JONAH but he just barely kicks out. PCO sets up a steel chair in the ropes and sends JONAH head first into it. PCO sets the chairs up but JONAH drops him back first onto them. PCO to his feet and runs right into a clothesline from JONAH, he covers but PCO kicks out just in time. PCO sits up but JONAH with a superkick and tells him to die. JONAH heads out of the ring and grabs some thumb tacks, now this is a real monsters ball. JONAH lifts PCO and hits him with a powerbomb into the tacks. JONAH with a weak cover because he doesn’t want to get into the tacks, PCO kicks out at two! JONAh heads back up top but he’s cut off by PCO, PCO grabs the sledgehammer and goes to hit him with it but JONAH blocks it. JONAH lifts PCO up for a suplex but PCO counters and hits JONAH with the hammer sending him through the table outside. He’s gotta be dead. PCO lifts JONAH up and sends him into the ring. PCO heads to the top and hits the PCO sault on JONAH. PCO covers and picks up the victory!
Rating: ***1/4
Review: I hope this is the end of the feud between these two, PCO is fun in spurts but he’s still an old beaten down wrestler of yesteryear who can still go but in matches with JONAH they both clearly had moments that just slowed it down it never killed their matches but it always reminded me no matter how cool it was to see two monsters fight they’d likely be having better matches with smaller opponents who worked a different style. This match was a decent gimmick match, I joked about there being too many monsters ball matches and I stand by that, even though this was a fun hardcore match I think the idea of monsters ball typically including more than two superstars and really being off the walls is more my style when they use this match type this wasn’t much more than a glorified hardcore match. If they kept to the traditional style of Monsters Ball there likely wouldn’t have been 53 matches in that style but I get why they try to market it that way and i’m nit picking. Overall great show and solid main event. 

7.6
The final score: review Good
The 411
Another really good week of wrestling on Impact and that's something I can really get behind. Most of the matches were longer and had something the really entertained, meanwhile they limited the backstage segments and we got a better show because of it. There were a few things I wasn't loving like the heel faction vs. heel faction feud as well as the lack of a true program for Masha but those things are easily improved upon and while i don't love the booking i'm all for the Bullet Club vs. Honor No More so it's all good. They started off strong with a good match between Morrisey and Meyers and continued with that level of action throughout. I do have to wonder why they don't do these feud closing matches on a bigger show as it would've added even more to an already intriguing Under Siege show. Impacts on a run of great shows right now so there's no better time to check it out or encourage your friends to, this week was no different.
legend

article topics :

Impact Wrestling, Andrew Cazer