Himanshu’s Impact Wrestling Review 06.08.23

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, Moose and Rich Swann face Nick Aldis and Jonathan Gresham, The Coven defend the Knockouts World Tag Team Titles against Death Dollz, Trey Miguel battles Bhupinder Gujjar, Jason Hotch takes on Chris Bey and more. 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: Western Fair District Agriplex, London, Ontario
Date: 8th June, 2023

Match 1: Chris Bey vs Jason Hotch

Brian Myers says before the match that Subculture jumped the line to get a title shot. John Skyler said that after Against All Odds, they will be the new tag team champions.

Hotch runs at Chris Bey in the corner but Bey kicks him, Bey whips Hotch into the ropes which is reversed but Bey clotheslines him. Bey hits a rope-assisted flatliner on Hotch. Hotch goes for a rollup but gets two. Bey goes for the Art of Finesse but Hotch counters it into a Blue Thunder Bomb for two. Hotch gets a backslide but gets two. Bey counters another rollup attempt into one of his own to get the win.

Result: Chris Bey def. Jason Hotch by pinfall
Rating: ***

After the match, the Good Hands beat down on Ace and Bey and Myers hits the Roster Cut as they celebrate.

Gia Miller finds Heath backstage and Heath talks about winning the 8-4-1 match but first he will take care of Champagne Singh.

Dirty Dango said he played a jester for the money. He said he invested the money with a 12-15% and he doesn’t really need the money anymore and doesn’t need to be there anymore but he still does it. He tells fans to take a shower and that he read the comments that he sucks. He says if he was like most of the locker room he would buy a replica Digital Media title but unlike most of them, he gets women and they wouldn’t want to see a toy title there.

Match 2: Heath vs Champagne Singh

Heath goes after Champagne right at the bell. Champagne whips Heath into the ropes and Shera catches his leg. Champagne Singh sweeps his leg. Champagne Singh gets a reverse headlock on Heath, but Heath fights out of it. Heath hits the Roster Cut for the win.

Result: Heath def. Champagne Singh by pinfall
Rating: **¼

The Design with a backstage promo. Alan Angels says he never trusted Sami Callihan and that he will pay at the cesspool that he calls home in Ohio. Deaner tells Sami to call his brothers and that they will take everything.

Match 3: Joe Hendry vs Sheldon Jean

Joe Hendry cuts a promo before the match and says tonight’s match is against the man who broke his nose and he is a reality star that is under the tutelage of another reality star in Kenny King. He says this isn’t reality TV, this is IMPACT Wrestling, and they believe in 6’4″, 260 pounds of pure motivation in Joe Hendry.

Joe Hendry hits a vertical suplex on Sheldon Jean and hits upper cuts on Jean followed by a running cutter. Joe Hendry hits a fallaway slam and kips up. He goes for a Standing Ovation but Jean fights out of it, but Hendry hits a pop-up powerbomb followed by the Standing Ovation for the win.

Result: Joe Hendry def. Sheldon Jean by pinfall
Rating: NR

Joe Hendry calls out Dirty Dango. Dango comes out and says he hates pro-wrestling but what he hates even more is pro-wrestling fans. He says Joe isn’t going to trick him into fighting him as they don’t pay him enough. Joe says he didn’t call him out here to wrestle, he called him out to tell him why he thinks he’s so cranky all the time and he’s made a video about it. He shows a video of a song where he says he went from beating Chris Jericho to playing police with Tyler and it happened because he got rejected on Total Divas by Summer and Eva. Afterwards, Kenny King attacks Joe Hendry but Santino comes out and hits the Cobra.

Gisele Shaw with a vignette in a parking lot and says she hits 3 DeNumahs on Jordynne Grace. She says Trinity thinks she can come in and get a title shot, but that Gisele will get her spotlight.

Match 4: Death Dollz vs The Coven for the IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts World Championship

Jessicka chokes Taylor and throws her into the corner and hits a scoop slam. Taylor tags to Kilynn King and Jessicka tags to Courtney Rush. Taylor chokes Rush against the ropes in the corner. Rush tags out to Jessicka. Jessicka gets forearms from Kilynn King who tags out to Taylor. Jessicka gets the hot tag to Rush who hits a running bulldog on Kilynn for two. Taylor gets the tag and tries to hit a German Suplex but Rush drops her and hits a Sharpshooter. Kilynn and Jessicka are brawling outside and the referee is distracted by that as Taylor taps. Kilynn comes in and they double team on Rush and Taylor gets the pin.

Result: The Coven def. Death Dollz by pinfall
Rating: **¾

A vignette runs on Alex Shelley who says he had a chance at the title against Josh and that he believed he had a chance to win. He says he has been here for decades and he has seen AJ Styles, Kurt Angle and others be champion and Josh Alexander is the best representation of IMPACT. He says he helped cultivate talent like Seth Rollins, Johnny Gargano, The Young Bucks and elevate Chris Sabin and says this time he’s doing it for himself.

Gia Miller backstage with Maclin and Maclin says people are coming from every direction for his title. Bully Ray comes in and says he doesn’t need to worry about all those other people, he needs to worry about Bully Ray, but not until Slammiversary.

Match 5: Trey Miguel vs Bhupinder Gujjar

Gujjar hits a back elbow on Trey and hits a single leg dropkick as Trey retreats from the ring. Gujjar goes for a suicide dive but Trey guillotines him against the ropes. Trey throws Gujjar outside the ring and dropkicks him when he tries to get back in. Gujjar gets back in but Gujjar hits a jumping knee. Gujjar hits a flapjack and kips up. Gujjar goes to the top rope and goes for the Five Star Frog Splash but Miguel gets out of the way. Miguel goes to the top rope and goes for the Meteora but Gujjar gets out of the way. Miguel hits the Lightning Spiral for the win.

Result: Trey Miguel def. Bhupinder Gujjar by pinfall
Rating: **¾

Miguel gets on the mic and says he is the greatest generational talent right now but all he gets in return is “yeah, but”. He says Chris Sabin used to be great. He says this time there will be no “ifs” and no “yeah buts”.

Gia Miller is backstage with Johnny Swinger and asks if he thinks he can get 50 wins. Johnny Swinger says he has beaten everyone. He asks whose fault was it that he isn’t winning. He says he sent Zicky Dice to referee school.

Gia Miller in a pre-recorded interview with Trinity and Deonna Purrazzo. Deonna says Trinity and her have beaten Gisele multiple times. Trinity says Deonna can trust her when they team up. Deonna says she doesn’t plan on losing at Against All Odds. Trinity says Deonna doesn’t need to worry about Against All Odds but she needs to worry about Slammiversary.

Tom Hannifan and Matt Rehwoldt run down the card for Against All Odds.

Match 6: Moose and Rich Swann vs Nick Aldis and Jonathan Gresham

Rich Swann and Gresham start as Swann drops Gresham with a kick. Gresham tags to Aldis who gets dropped by hurrancanranas but he goes for the Kingsland Cloverleaf. Swann tags to Moose who whips Aldis into the ropes but Aldis hits a Lou Thesz Press on Moose and gets a headlock as we go to commercial.

Back from commercial and Aldis tags to Gresham as they retain control on Moose with a wristlock. Moose hits a scoop slam on Gresham and tags to Swann. Swann hits a splash for two. Gresham hits a couple of forearms on Swann but Moose hits him as he runs into his side of the ring. Swann hits a clothesline on Gresham in the corner and tags to Moose who hits a stalling Vertical Suplex on Gresham. Gresham goes for the Victory Roll and uses the momentum to tag to Aldis who hits a Michinoku Driver on Moose. Aldis goes to the top rope and hits an Elbow Drop for two. Aldis goes for the Cloverleaf but Moose rolls him up for two before they clothesline each other. Both tag out and Gresham backslides Swann for two. Swann hits a cutter for two. Swann goes to the top rope but Moose tags himself in. Moose powerbombs Gresham for the win.

Result: Moose and Rich Swann def. Nick Aldis and Jonathan Gresham by pinfall
Rating: ***

After the match, Gresham, Aldis and Swann all have a problem with Moose. Moose drops Gresham and Swann. Swann goes for a suicide dive on everyone but Bully Ray comes in and drops Swann. PCO comes out and punches Bully out of the ring and hits a running moonsault on everybody outside the ring and stands tall to end the show.

7.1

The final score: review Good

The 411

A decent edition of IMPACT a night before Against All Odds. Dirty Dango's character change has been interesting and it would be cool if IMPACT tried to do more outside-the-box stuff like this. Joe Hendry coming up with another fun video calling Dango a Total Divas reject was good stuff. They have done an okay job of building Shelley as the challenger to the World Championship but I don't know if it has been enough. The show closing had PCO standing tall at the end so it would be interesting which way they go with the 8-4-1 match at Against All Odds.