Cero Reviews Impact Wrestling Emergence 2021

[cero2k]

Impact Wrestling Emergence 2021
August 20, 2021
Nashville, TN

Matt Cardona (w/Chelsea Green) vs. Rohit Raju (w/Shera) - 5/10
Nothing match, it was well wrestled, but it was just there. It all built to Shera jumping Cardona after the win and Green getting in between them and we seeing the Shera won't put his hand on her for some reason.

Fallah Bahh, No Way, Savannah Evans & Tasha Steelz vs. Decay (Black Taurus, Crazzy Steve, Havok & Rosemary) - 5.5/10
Another ok match that didn't really do much, I expected Decay to take the pin and set up Steelz/Evans for the titles, but that didn't happen. We did get to see what Evans can do in the ring and she looked ok, I was having Lei'D Tapa PTSD with her, but she looked far more competent.

Petey Williams vs. Steve Maclin - 6.5/10
This was as good as I expected. Maclin has been on a roll of squashing people, so he shows intensity, but I had not seen him in a competitive match, and I just wasn't all that impressed, I wasn't a fan that he ended up using some of the same old heel tropes like dodging out of the ring and hiding behind the referee or ropes, I can understand not wanting to squash Petey, but I think Maclin could had looked way stronger. Having said that, I really don't know where he could be going other than eventually chase the X Division title, and for that matter, I don't think we need to hurry him to face Alexander.

Finish saw Williams lock in a sharpshooter, but Maclin broke out by biting Williams, followed with a low blow behind the referee’s sight, and a Mayhem for All for the win.

Taylor Wilde vs. Madison Rayne (w/Kaleb With A K & Tenille Dashwood) - 3.5/10
This was pretty bad, I don't know if it was ring rust or Rayne is a great seller, but she looked gassed out and even concussed at one point. The wrestling itself was ok really, it wasn't abysmal or anything, but the layout and story of these Wilde matches have me wondering what's the endpoint, she's been losing to both Rayne and Dashwood now. I would imagine she eventually brings in someone to counter Rayne and Kaleb, but given that Dashwood and Rayne seem to be turning into an actual tag team, I don't know how far Wilde will end up going.

Finish saw Kaleb distract the referee, so that Dashwood could toss Wilde into the ringpost, and Rayne got the roll up win.

Impact World Championship #1 Contendership Four Way Match
Chris Sabin vs. Sami Callihan vs. Moose vs. Ace Austin - 7/10
This was good, it had a good clash of styles for a 4-way match. Callihan the brawler, Moose the powerhouse, Ace the aerial guy, and Sabin an all-rounder that can take on any style, but if we have to pin point something, he brought the more technical aspect of the match.

Story of the match was that Ace came in with a plan for Fulton to interfere without actually attacking people, Fulton was catching Ace when tossed to the floor, he was putting himself in between Ace and strikes, the whole thing. Meanwhile, Moose, Callihan, and Sabin were all just going at it trying to get control of everything and get the win. Callihan kept going for piledrivers, Moose for power moves, and Sabin was mostly working up to the Cradle Shock. Eventually the match was won by Ace when Moose had him down for the Lights Out, but Callihan got Moose with a chair, not realizing that he left Moose open for Ace to roll him up and get the win.

Ace will face the winner of Cage and Myers at Victory Road.

Impact X-Division Championship Match
Josh Alexander (c) vs. Jake Something - 9/10
Easily the match of the night, and one of my favorite Impact matches of the year, and I'd even consider this one to be one of Alexander's best matches of his reign, he's had great ones all around, but I loved the story of this one and how they played it out.

The story was that Something was the biggest and strongest man that Alexander had defended the title against, even bigger than Taurus a couple of weeks ago, and so even if Alexander was a better wrestler, Something had to the power to break his momentum or outpower himself off submissions. Eventually this lack of control started to get out of Alexander's hands, forcing him to take some more risks and just keep pushing. At one point, Alexander's desperation actually had him take out Something outside the ring and ask for the countout win, but Something made it in on time.

In addition, Alexander had been trying to go for the Ankle lock all match, but Something would easily break it off via counter or ropes, but eventually that damage did slow down Something a bit, which would play a part in the finish. Alexander had started to chase the C4, but Something could easily block that with strength, but towards the end, when Something's ankle was hurting, Something was finally able to hit the C4 by kicking out Something's ankle and capitalizing on the lack of balance to quickly hit the C4 and win.

Post-match - Both men shook hands in acknowledgement.

Melina & Trey Miguel vs. Deonna Purrazzo & Matt Rehwoldt - 5/10
This was really surprising, they're building Melina to the be contender for Purrazzo's title at NWA' Empower show, but what they did was have Purrazzo and Rehwoldt completely dominate Miguel and Melina here. Finish actually had Miguel taken out while both Rehwoldt and Purrazzo beat the shit of Melina and eventually submit her. Both of them submitting Melina together is somewhat ok, but Miguel taken out so easily was kinda weird. And it wasn't just the finish, Purrazzo was super dominant for most of the match, even against Miguel.

Impact World Tag Team Title Three Way Match
The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) (c) vs. Rich Swann & Willie Mack vs. Violent By Design (Joe Doering & Rhino) (w/Deaner & Eric Young) - 7/10
Match has glimpses of good things, but it really ended up being just ok

Post-match - All of Violent By Design blamed Rhino for the loss, and even if they didn't attack him or anything, just having them all berate Rhino looked like a tease of a Rhino babyface turn. I don't mind him turning babyface as long as they have a replacement, I like the four person unit for VBD, and for that matter, there is nothing that a babyface Rhino could do other than be the wildcard wrestler that Tommy Dreamer has been for the last 3 years, so I rather we keep a heel Rhino. Unless Heath is ready to come back and introduce a new tag team to the division.

Impact World Title Match
Christian Cage (c) vs. Brian Myers (w/Sam Beale) - 7/10
This was a really good match and well wrestled, it had a proper story of a babyface overcoming some odds and making a comeback, but having said all that, I thought the match was just there. The layout was basic, with the babyface getting some early offense until Beale distracted Cage and allowed Myers to cut him off, work on Cage, then a comeback and into the back and forth exchange of near falls until Cage won with a Spear and Killswitch for the pin. Good match, just not much to talk about.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
A good show overall, but totally skippable with the exception of Alexander versus Something. Most matches had built and all, but title matches aside, they could had been perfectly ok to happen on a normal Impact episode.