Himanshu’s Impact Wrestling Review 10.05.23

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 Twitter @Himanshu_Doi) and you know how this works. Tonight on IMPACT, Josh Alexander faces Kon, Killer Kelly battles Tasha Steelz, a 10 Person Tag has Call Your Shot implications, Moose takes on Bhupinder Gujjar, ABC look to take out their frustration on John Skyler and a partner of his choosing and so much 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

Date: October 5th, 2023
Location: Graceland Live in Memphis, TN
Commentators: Tom Hannifan, Matt Rehwoldt

Match 1: Killer Kelly vs. Tasha Steelz

Tasha hits a pump kick on Kelly. Tasha locks a Camel Clutch on Killer Kelly and Kelly gets back on her feet but Steelz gets her down again. Kelly gets up and Tasha goes for a Stratusfaction but Kelly drops her on her butt. Kelly traps both her arms and headbutts her and hits a butterfly suplex on the corner followed by a hesitation dropkick for two. Kelly gets Tasha on her shoulders but Tasha fights out of it and goes for a springboard off the ropes but Kelly catches her in the sleeper. Deonna comes out and pulls the referee out. Tasha hits The Blackout for the three.

Result: Tasha Steelz def. Killer Kelly
Rating: **¾

Backstage, John Skyler asks Savannah Evans to be his tag team partner for fan’s revenge and says she’s the first person he’s asked. Gisele says everyone knows he’s been begging everyone online. She says Jai Vidal will be his tag team partner. Skyler says he’d rather have the girl.

Gia Miller is backstage with Jonathan Gresham and asks him about pulling the tights and winning. Gresham says it’s exactly what he’s been talking about, the incompetence of the referees. Bailey comes in and asks what he’s doing. Gresham walks away.

Tommy Dreamer goes out to the ring and calls out Crazzy Steve. Crazzy Steve gets to the ring. Tommy Dreamer talks about them being friends for a long time. When they were in TNA together, he would crash in Tommy Dreamer’s hotel room. Dreamer says Steve is an amazing wrestler and is legally blind. He talks about his father being blind. He talks about giving Crazzy Steve his car keys in an empty parking lot to drive and Steve saying it was the first time he felt normal. Dreamer says that he loves Steve and the fans love him. Dreamer says he’s happy to give Steve any type of match he wants because he deserves it. Steve hugs Dreamer but then stabs Dreamer in the back with a fork and says he’s not his friend.

Match 2: Eric Young, Jake Something, Jordynne Grace, Dirty Dango and Champagne Singh vs. Brian Myers, Shera, Bully Ray, Kilynn King and Jody Threat

The winning team goes into a 5-way match next week to determine the No. 1 and No. 20 spots for the Call Your Shot Gauntlet match at Bound For Glory.

Jordynne Grace and Bully Ray face off. Grace looks to suplex Grace but Bully counters it into a body slam. Bully looks for a elbow drop but Grace gets out of the way and tags to Eric Young. Young goes to the top rope for an elbow drop but Shera drops him. Bully tags to Kilynn and they hit a double team suplex on Eric Young for two. Grace and Jody Threat get the tag and Grace whips Threat into the ropes and hits a spinebuster. Jake Something gets the tag and he clears everybody from the ring. Shera looks for a Sky High on Jake but Jake hits Into The Void for the win.

Result: Eric Young, Jake Something, Jordynne Grace, Dirty Dango and Champagne Singh def. Brian Myers, Shera, Bully Ray, Kilynn King and Jody Threat by pinfall
Rating: **¾

Gia Miller is backstage with Josh Alexander and Josh says he has a champion’s mentality and he never backs down from any challenge. Shelley says champion’s mentality can get one in trouble. Shelley says for one night only, he will be his insurance policy.

A promo aired for Trinity vs. Mickie James.

Gia Miller is backstage with Trinity and talks about Mickie James. Trinity says it was expected because Mickie never lost the title. Trinity says she owes it to her to bring her best to her. Trinity says she plans on walking out the same way she walked in, as the Knockouts World Champion.

Match 3: Fan’s Revenge Match: ABC vs. John Skyler and Jai Vidal

Before the match, Skyler says he heard the people in Memphis are insufferable pigs, and he agrees, except for the fans holding the whips. He says he hopes when he throws his opponents over the rope that they would whip them with those Good Hands.

Ace Austin goes for a quick pin on Skyler but Skyler kicks out and tags to Vidal. Ace hits a springboard single leg dropkick on Vidal. Bey and Skyler get the tag and Bey hits a splash in the corner. Bey throws Skyler over the top rope and Skyler gets whipped by all the fans at ringside. Skyler takes a whip from one of the fans and Bey hits a running somersault on Skyler on the outside. Bey hits the Art of Finesse on Skyler followed by The Fold by Ace and they get the three.

Result: ABC def. John Skyler and Jai Vidal by pinfall
Rating: ***¼

A promo airs on Eddie Edwards vs. Frankie Kazarian.

Match 4: Moose vs. Bhupinder Gujjar

Moose looks for a powerbomb but Gujjar gets out of it but gets hit by a uranage. Moose looks for a spear but Gujjar gets out of the way. Gujjar goes for a knee strike but Moose moves out of the way and hits a powerbomb. Moose hits the Spear for the win.

Result: Moose def. Gujjar by pinfall
Rating: NR

After the match, Maclin comes out and says that briefcase should be his because he brought that briefcase down until Rhino gored it out of his hands. He tells Moose to give him the briefcase. Moose asks if this is a trap and Bully is coming out. Maclin says Bully is busy with PCO and Maclin says he’s not afraid of PCO and he’s not afraid of those two. The lights go off and PCO appears in the ring. PCO clears the ring. Maclin retreats back to the entrance stage and gets gored by Rhino.

The Rascalz are backstage and they spray paint the tag team Championships. Santino Marella is angry at them defacing the championships.

Chris Sabin cuts a promo on KENTA. Sabin says KENTA started his career in 2000 and so did he. Sabin says no belt means more to him than the X-Division Championship. He says he will be walking out the X-Division Champion.

Match 5: Josh Alexander vs. Kon

Kon whips Alexander in the corner but Alexander kicks Kon and hits a dropkick off the second rope. Kon whips Alexander into the ropes and Deaner on the outside grabs his leg. Kon hits a spinebuster on Alexander. Alexander hits forearms on Kon and goes for a German Suplex but Kon fights out of it. Kon runs into Josh but Josh bounces him off the ropes and uses the momentum to hit a German Suplex. Alexander goes for a moonsault but Kon gets out of the way. Kon hits a choke bomb for two. Kon lifts Alexander on his shoulders but Alexander hits an enzugiri. Alexander lifts Kon on his shoulders but hits the referee by mistake. Deaner gets a steel chair and looks to hit Alexander but Shelley pulls the steel chair out of his hand and Alexander accidentally hits Shelley. Inside the ring, Alexander hits the C4 Spike on Kon for the win.

Result: Josh Alexander def. Kon by pinfall
Rating: ***½

After the match, Shelley confronts Alexander but Alexander pushes him off and Shelley hits Shell-shocked on Alexander and leaves him laying.

7.2

The final score: review Good

The 411

With just two more weeks of IMPACT before Bound For Glory, a lot of matches on the card continued to get solid build here. They had a 10-man tag match leading to a 5-way match next week to determine the first and last spots in the Call Your Shot Gauntlet. Although it's my least favourite match at Bound For Glory, at least they're building to it. Dreamer cut the usual babyface promo you can expect from him with Crazzy Steve being a friend that literally stabbed Dreamer in the back. It's an interesting enough story to keep you interested in the match. It was interesting to see PCO get as much of the spotlight here against Maclin and Moose knowing that he is gone from the company. They continued to build the tension between Shelley and Alexander. It's kind of unfortunate in my opinion that it has to be this way and Shelley has to be the heel here and seem like he's trying to prove that he's not a transitional champion. Because unless they spring a surprise, Alexander is going to win at Bound For Glory. And Shelley being the champion already seems lesser than the challenger.