Himanshu’s Impact Wrestling Review 10.27.22

Hey there, IMPACT fans! It’s Thursday and that means it’s time for another episode of IMPACT Wrestling. I’m Himanshu (@Himanshu_Doi) and you know how this works. Tonight on IMPACT, we will have Trey Miguel vs Alan Angels in a match from the X Division Championship Tournament, Tasha Steelz will be in action, we find out what’s next for the Call Your Shot Gauntlet winner Bully Ray, Joe Hendry faces Raj Singh and Jordynne Grace, Mickie James & Taylor Wilde face VXT & Gisele Shaw. 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.

Scott D’Amore is backstage as Taven and Bennett come up to him and complain about losing the tag titles and Maria being injured last week. Scott D’Amore said there needed to be a middke ground and they won’t find themselves in that position. Taven and Bennett seem glad and say that’s all they ever wanted. They shake hands and Scott says that they’ll never find themselves in that position because they’re fired. Good luck finding a new job.

WE OWN THE NIGHT!

We see the X-Factors for the match between Alan Angels and Trey Miguel.

Match 1: Trey Miguel vs Alan Angels

Lock-up to start and Alan gets the headlock. Exchange armwringers. Alan Angels goes to the outside and sweeps Trey’s legs. Cover for two. Trey goes for Old School but Alan drops him down. Northern Lights Suplex by Alan for two. Trey reverses a whip to the corner but Alan reverses it into a reverse slingblade for two. Trey Miguel comes back with kicks to the downed Alan. Double knees. Alan reverses and whips Trey into the corner. Alan with the dropkick on Trey at the top followed by a DDT for two. Alan tries for a superplex but Trey reverses it and hits the meteora from the top rope but only gets a two. Trey tries to takes Angels from the ropes but Alan fights off. Angels hits a frog splash on Miguel but only gets two. Alan goes for the discus clothesline but Trey hits the Lightning Spiral and gets the pin.

Result: Trey Miguel def. Alan Angels
Rating: ***3/4
Review: Excellent match and a great showing here for Alan Angels even in defeat. Alan Angels got a lot of offense in and there are rumors that IMPACT might have signed Alan Angels to a deal. Hope that is true as he would be a great addition to the X-Division.

Ace and Bey are backstage and they find Bully Ray with Tommy Dreamer. Bey accuses Bully of jumping Ace. Bully says it wasn’t him and that he already apologised to Bey. Bully asks if it could be someone else like Moose. Bey doesn’t believe it and gets in Bully’s face but Tommy gets between them. Bey challenges Tommy to a match.

VXT and Gisele Shaw are backstage. Shaw said they all beat Wilde, James and. Chelsea Green said James said her last loss is her last loss so they could send Mickie James home. Shaw says since Grace is there, they could also win the Knockouts Title. Deonna butts in and says they’re focused on Mickie James.

Match 2: Tasha Steelz vs Rachelle Scheel

Tasha Steelz kicks Rachelle in the face. She hits a cutter. She goes outside the ring and gets a mic. Tasha says she doesn’t deserve to be in the ring with that girl. Tasha says she has had her five minutes of fame. She calls in Savannah who hits her with a lariat as the referee calls for the bell. Savannah then hits her with a powerbomb.

Result: Rachelle Scheel def. Tasha Steelz by DQ
Rating: SQUASH
Review: Tasha seems to have a little bit of steam in a the last few weeks or so, so it’s good that they’re continuing to give her the spotlight here while also showcasing what Savannah Evans is capable of.

Heath and Rhino are backstage. Motorcity Machine Guns come upto them and reminded them of their title shot. Heath and Rhino tells them to go to Scott D’Amore.

Motorcity Machine Guns are outside Scott D’Amore’s office but find Major Players there. They argue about getting a tag title shot and Scott D’Amore comes in and makes a match between Shelley and Cardona.

Match 3: Chris Bey vs Tommy Dreamer

Early exchange and Tommy Dreamer gets the advantage. Bey shoves Tommy. Another exchange and Bey gets the advantage. Tommy shoves Bey. Bully Ray shows up as we go to commercial.

Bey hits a standing moonsault on Tommy for one. Bey hits a running chop on Tommy in the corner. Tommy moves to another corner as Bey hits another running chop. Tommy moves to another corner as Bey looks for another running chop but Tommy gets out and hits a slap of his own. Bey reverses and tries to hit a springboard cutter but Dreamer reverses and tries to hit a cutter which Bey reverses into a DDT and gets two. Dreamer hits a cutter for two. Dreamer goes to the top rope for a splash but Bey hits a super kick for two. Tommy hits a superplex on Bey. Moose comes out to ring side and gets in Bully’s face. Moose slips Bey and Bey thinks Bully did it. Dreamer from behind but Bey reverses with the Art of Finesse for the win.

Result: Chris Bey def. Tommy Dreamer
Rating: ***
Review: I’m glad Chris Bey got the win here as the distraction by Moose seemed to set-up Tommy getting one over Bey. Tommy Dreamer is doing his best to hang with the likes of Chris Bey in the ring but it does seem a bit of a mismatch as their styles are way too different. I can’t say I’m a fan of Tommy Dreamer competing in the ring on national television in 2022 but his involvement at least makes sense in this storyline.

We see the IMPACT Plus Flashback Moment of the Week which is Sting vs Bully Ray from Slammiversary XI.

Aussie Open are backstage cutting a promo. They say they lost to Motorcity Machine Guns last time. They are challenging any team to a match to prove themselves.

Tommy Dreamer and Bully Ray are backstage and Tommy tells Bully Ray to relax. Bully Ray is enraged and says enough is enough and he wanted to do things the right way but no one trusts him and he doesn’t know if Tommy does either. He says the next time he sees Moose, he will take him out. Tommy agrees.

Match 4: Matt Cardona vs Alex Shelley

Matt Cardona sneak attacks Shelley before the bell rings. They brawl outside the ring and Shelley hits Cardona’s face onto the apron. Cardona gets into the ring and Shelley hits a splash for two. Shelley with chops on Cardona. Shelley runs towards the ropes but Myers pulls him out of the ring. Cardona hits Shelley’s face into the apron and throws him back into the ring. Cardona hits a neckbreaker for two. Cardona hits a back body drop for two. Cardona gets a sleeper hold on Shelley, Shelley fights out of it but Cardona hits a back elbow for two. Cardona gets Shelley into the corner and goes for the Reboot but Shelley gets out of the way and drops Cardona face first into the turnbuckle. Cardona and Shelley get into a forearm strike battle. Shelley gets the advantage and takes him down with the running forearm. Shelley hits a Tornado DDT and goes for the pin but Myers puts Cardona’s foot on the ropes. Sabin and Shelley double team on Myers. Cardona hits a Radio Silence on Shelley but Shelley kicks out at two. Myers throws the title to Cardona but slides it too far and Shelley gets it and is about to hit Cardona but the referee gets it out of his hands. Cardona goes for a schoolboy but gets only two. Myers hits the Digital Media Championship on Shelley and Cardona gets the pin.

Result: Matt Cardona def. Alex Shelley
Rating: ***3/4
Review: Really good match with a great finishing stretch which had a lot of false finishes. Cardona winning here and the post-match run in from the champions suggests that we will see the Major Players challenge for the Tag Team titles next. As a side note, would Brian Myers have to hand in his Digital Media Championship to compete for the World Tag Team Championship? That’s how Option C started in the first place, because a wrestler couldn’t hold two belts at the same time.

Major Players are celebrating but Heath and Rhino run in and chase the Major Players away.

Josh Alexander and Rich Swann are backstage as they are praising each other. Gail Kim asks to talk with Josh. Gail tells Josh that Bully taught her a lot but he also said never to trust anybody. She tells Josh to watch his back. Maclin comes up from behind and attacks Josh. Kazarian shows up and runs him off.

Josh Alexander is backstage with Kazarian and asks why Kaz was there. Kaz says a lot of people want Josh to not show up at Overdrive and Kaz wants to make sure that Josh does. Josh says he’s glad there’s one less person to worry about it. He asks if Kaz wants to team up with him to face Aussie Open next week. Kaz agrees.

Match 5: Raj Singh (w/ Mahabali Shera) vs Joe Hendry

Joe Hendry on the mic and says they’re in Las Vegas and people win and lose a lot here. He points to a person in the crowd and says he told his wife they lost their kid’s college fund gambling but its okay because they saw Joe Hendry, and his wife says they believe in Joe Hendry.

Raj Hendry gets the advantage but just as he says Joe Hendry’s name he gets up and hits the Standing Ovation for the win.

Result: Joe Hendry def. Raj Singh
Rating: SQUASH
Review: Joe Hendry continues to get good reactions from the live crowds and he gets people to clap and wave their hands to his theme song. Solid work from Raj Singh here to put Joe’s character over.

Eric Young and Cody Deaner are backstage and Eric tells a person we can’t see that they can learn a lot from loss. Eric says that he craves a lot from violence and he hopes that the person we can’t see will be watching.

Eddie Edwards interview with Gia Miller. Eddie Edwards says Honor No More is no more. There’s nothing left to salvage. He says he would like to keep things between Alisha and himself private. He says he would do everything again because there has been no honor for a long time. He says he thought he needed to be a monster to fight the monsters. But PCO isn’t a monster, he’s a bitch and he needs to pay.

Next week, we have Yuya Uemura vs PJ Black on BTI and on IMPACT we have Kenny King vs Mike Bailey, Eric Young vs Sami Callihan, Aussie Open vs Kazarian and Josh Alexander.

Match 6: VXT and Gisele Shawn vs Jordynne Grace, Mickie James and Taylor Wilde

Mickie James and Chelsea Green start off. Chelsea tags to Gisele. Mickie gets Gisele down with the dropkick. Mickie and Gisele tag to Taylor Wilde and Deonna Purrazzo. Taylor hits the monkey flip on Deonna Purrazzo. Wilde hits a kick on Deonna for two. Wilde takes down Purrazzo and Green with a headscissors and headlock takedown combo. All the 6 Knockouts get in the ring and the faces clear the ring as we go to commercial.

Back from commercial and Jordynne and Taylor Wilde double team on Chelsea for two. Chelsea fights off with a dropkick on Taylor for two. Chelsea tags to Deonna and clubs Taylor with the forearm and chops. Tag to Gisele Shaw and she gets a two. Taylor with a jawbreaker and tags to Mickie James and Mickie gets the clotheslines. She blows a flying kiss to Chelsea but Deonna trips Mickie. Gisele tags to Deonna who stomps Mickie in the corner turnbuckle. Deonna tags to Chelsea who covers for two. Tag to Gisele who hits a running uppercut. Cover for two. Purrazzo hits a cheap shot af Mickie and Gisele gets a two. Headlock on Mickie and Mickie fights off but Gisele drops her back down. Gisele back with a headlock and Mickie fights off but Gisele hits her with a knee in the gut. Mickie hits a neckbreaker. Mickie gets the tag to Grace who clears house and hits a spinebuster on Deonna for two. Jordynne Grace tags to Mickie who hits a Lou Thesz press from the top rope for two. VXT hit a Blockbuster on Mickie but Grace and Taylor come in for the save. Gisele goes to the outside and celebrates with the Knockouts Title. Grace takes her out from behind. VXT are about to hit a double superplex on Mickie but Taylor hits a spear on Deonna and Mickie gets the pin.

Result: Jordynne Grace, Mickie James and Taylor Wilde def. VXT and Gisele Shaw
Rating: ***3/4
Review: A great Knockouts match and Mickie lives to fight another day. A match that really highlighted the strengths of the Knockouts division as even the “veterans” in this match, Taylor Wilde and Mickie James, looked great in there with the relatively newer talent. IMPACT continues to have arguably the best booked women’s roster on national television in North America as every character feels unique and is given time to develop and has a place on the show.

Mickie James, Taylor Wilde and Jordynne Grace celebrate to end the show.

7.4

The final score: review Good

The 411

A strong edition of IMPACT as we got three very good matches. Alan Angels had a great showing in a losing effort in the X-Division Championship tournament, Cardona put on a solid match against Alex Shelley and Mickie James, Jordynne Grace & Taylor Wilde had a great match against VXT & Gisele Shaw. They continue to push the "Bully Ray can't be trusted" storyline and Joe Hendry continues to be over with the live crowds. Three very good matches gives this episode a 7.4 from me.