Himanshu’s Impact Wrestling Review 06.15.23

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, Shelley and Sabin will kick off IMPACT as we find out what’s next for the new champions, the next chapter in the Moose vs Swann long-standing rivalry will be written, an incensed Bully Ray will address the IMPACT Zone and there’s no telling what chaos may ensue and Decay looks to topple Ace Austin and Chris Bey when they collide with the champs in non-title action. 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: 15th June, 2023

The Motorcity Machine Guns come out. Chris Sabin introduces the new World Champion Alex Shelley. Alex Shelley brings up a list of all the names that have been influenced by him including Seth Rolling and Kazuchika Okada. He says at some point of time he had to think about himself. Nick Aldis comes out and says he was going to stay back and listen to them talk. He says he will be the next World Champion. Trey Miguel comes out and says he was getting filled up with all the air being thrown around in the ring. Kenny King comes out and says that he was in the back and says the only one who was telling the truth was Trey because they had to scratch and claw their way to the top. Gisele Shaw comes out and says she has not been getting the opportunity she deserves. Shelley says her problem is with Trinity. Trinity comes out and gets in Jai Vidal’s face and threatens to drop him. Deonna Purrazzo comes out and says she is the reigning Knockouts Champion. Trinity says she is Champion until Slammiversary. Santino Marella comes out and books a 5 vs 5 match for the main event.

Steve Maclin vignette says two years he waited to become the World Champion and Scott D’Amore finally got what he wanted. He screams that he still should be World Champion.

The Design vignette and Deaner he asks who should be getting the blame and looks at Alan Angels. Angels says all Deaner has been barking orders for months and all he got was a baseball bat from him. He says it is Deaner’s fault that they lost at Against All Odds. Deaner says he should remember who brought him here. Angels says the leader of Violent By Design brought him here. Kon interrupts and says this is what Sami Callihan wanted.

Match 1: Moose vs Rich Swann

Moose powerbombs Rich Swann against the apron, then holds on and swings him against the guardrails and throws him onto the ropes as we go to commercial break.

Back from commercial break and Swann hits a tilt-a-whirl DDT and goes to the top rope but Moose grabs his feet and chops him. Swann punches Moose and drops him but Moose gets back up, runs to the top and superplexes him as we go to commercial.

Back from commercial and Moose goes for a Rock Bottom but Swann reverses into a roll-up for two. Moose runs to the top rope and looks for a cutter but Swann catches him with a cutter of his own. He then bounces off the ropes and hits another cutter for two. Moose hits a powerbomb for a nearfall. Moose looks for a spear but Rich Swann gets a roll-up and gets the three.

Result: Rich Swann def. Moose by pinfall
Rating: ***½

Backstage promo by Heath who says his IMPACT journey has been a roller coaster ride but he gets out due to injury. When he finally comes out, his friend is in a cult. So he had to get his friend out there. But then his friend Rhino gets hurt. So he sends them packing when he comes back. But now Rhino gets hurt again. Heath says he needs to remind everyone who he is again, and if they forget about him, he will have to give them a Wake Up Call.

Brian Myers finds Moose backstage and tells him that was a tough loss. He says that wouldn’t have happened if he had someone there.

Bully Ray comes out. He asks if everyone knows who he is. He says he is a victim of the system. He says he wants answers. Scott D’Amore comes out. Scott says Bully is a lot of things, but one thing he didn’t think he was is a whining, stooping bitch. He says once in a while when he’s being a jerk to everybody, someone is going to be a jerk back. Bully Ray says this goes beyond human resources and that he has a letter that says he has cause him great physical and mental harm. Scott says he had to go to Anthem and had the letter read and that at Against All Odds, his actions were unbecoming of a president. Bully asks him to stay it again. Scott says to DVR it back. Bully tells what he is trying to say that Bully was right and Scott was wrong. Scott gets angry and says that Anthem says he should take a leave of absence as President. Bully says he doesn’t even need to say that Bully was right and Scott was wrong because that is music to his ears. He tells Scott to not let the door hit him on the way out. Scott says if he was President, he would not be able to do this. Scott tackles Bully, but Maclin gets to the ring and beats on Scott. Maclin gets two chairs. They were about to guillotine Scott with the chairs but the lights go out and when they come back on, it’s PCO. They clear the ring. Scott says at Slammiversary, he and PCO will team up against Bully and Maclin.

Maclin and Bully are backstage and Maclin says be doesn’t understand what gets PCO coming back. Kazarian mocks them for what PCO did to them. Maclin asks if he needs to remind him of what happened the last time they went one-on-one. Eddie Edwards comes out and says they need to chill. Maclin and Bully leave. Eddie tells Kaz that they may not see eye-to-eye but they have a bond and they’re cool. Alisha isn’t happy with that.

Match 2: ABC vs Decay

Bey hits the Art of Finesse followed by The Fold by Ace Austin for the win.

Result: ABC def. Decay by pinfall
Rating: NR

ABC gets to the back and meet Motorcity Machine Guns and Sabin tells them they’re glad the tag team division is well taken care of.

Gia is backstage with Bhupinder Gujjar and she tells that the documentary on Bhupinder airs next week on AXS TV. Dirty Dango asks why would anyone watch a documentary on Gujjar. Gujjar says there will never be a documentary on Dango because he’s just a bitter asshole and leaves. Dango tells Gia that he thought the interviewers were supposed to be hot.

Match 3: Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Nick Aldis, Deonna Purrazzo and Trinity vs Kenny King, Sheldon Jean, Trey Miguel, Gisele Shaw and Savannah Evans

Sabin and Miguel face off and Sabin drops him back first onto his knee. Miguel grabs him by the arm and tags to Sheldon Jean. Sheldon hits a forearm and tags out to Kenny King. Sabin gets out of the ring and gets kicked on by everyone else on the other team. Sabin gets back in the ring and King gets him in a low abdominal stretch. King grabs Sabin by the arm and Trey tags himself in and hits a double axe from the top rope. Kenny tags himself in and Sabin hits a Tornado DDT. Sabin tags to Shelley who throws Trey overhead. Shelley superkicks King on the outside. Shelley goes to the top rope but Trey catches him. Shelley hits a top rope Atomic Drop. King and Jean go for a combination kick but King takes out Jean. Shelley hits Jean with Shellshocked for the win.

Result: Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Nick Aldis, Deonna Purrazzo and Trinity def. Kenny King, Sheldon Jean, Trey Miguel, Gisele Shaw and Savannah Evans by pinfall
Rating: ***½

After the match, Nick Aldis takes the belt and decks Shelley. Sabin chases him away.

7.1

The final score: review Good

The 411

Decent show. The post-match of the main event had an interesting development as Nick Aldis attacked Shelley which I guess solidifies him as the heel. I guess they decided against a face vs. face match at Slammiversary. You have to wonder what's going on with Moose as he hasn't been getting a lot of attention in recent weeks. I'm not sure I'm behind Scott D'Amore wrestling again at Slammiversary against two former World Champions but I'm sure they want to capitalise on the reaction the last time they were they were in Windsor and Scott hit a Canadian Destroyer, so they're looking to do something similar again.