Cero Reviews Impact Wrestling Multiverse Of Matches
Posted: Apr 3rd, '22, 22:36
Impact Wrestling Multiverse Of Matches
April 1st, 2022
Fairmont Hotel, Dallas, TX
Impact X-Division Championship Ultimate X Match
Trey Miguel (c) vs. Rich Swann vs. Vincent vs. Jordynne Grace vs. Chris Bey vs. Blake Christian - 6.5/10
This had glimpses of being great, and while nothing was particularly bad, it really hurt that 80% of the spots were someone climbs the ropes, get brought down the hard way, and rinse-wash-repeat. I didn't think anyone in particular shined over the rest, but I do have to accept that Impact is making me like Vincent more and more, I've really enjoyed all his matches since debuting. The one that I honestly just can't get hyped for is Blake Christian, it's like he's great, but I just see him and not get anything from it, especially compared with guys like Chris Bey who oozes charisma.
Trey won because, well, he's already in a bit of a program with Bailey and Ace Austin towards Rebellion.
Mickie James & Nick Aldis vs. Chelsea Green & Matt Cardona - 5.5/10
I thought this was the worst match of the night, not that the wrestling was bad, but it was just kinda there, requiring a level of heat that is not there yet. This should had been the Rebellion match, but they did it here just a week since Green turned on James. If they had any plans further for Aldis on Impact, this just felt like a weak return to the promotion after about 5 years.
Match itself was that James and Green kept wanting to at each other, and among the chaos, Cardona took advantage to get the upper hand on Aldis. Mickie James was the babyface in peril, Aldis got the hot tag, and it let to a couple of near falls until the end where Aldis and James locked cloverleaves on Cardona and Green respectively for the double tap out win.
Alex Shelley vs. "Speedball" Mike Bailey - 8.5/10
This was freaking great. It was weird seeing Shelley work as heel here since he's been a babyface against the Bullet Club, but I did appreciate that the heel side came from being a veteran and getting pissed that the young Bailey got the upper hand and snapped his eardrum, which I honestly hope that it was a worked sell and that Shelley's ear is ok. He only sold it for a bit, but it was obvious.
Match was mostly back and forth, with Shelley cutting off Bailey's momentums and working the head, while Bailey mostly worked the upper body with kicks, towards hitting Ultima Weapon.
Impact Knockouts Tag Team Championship Match
The Influence (Madison Rayne & Tenille Dashwood) (c) vs. Gisele Shaw & Lady Frost vs. Savannah Evans & Tasha Steelz vs. Decay (Havok & Rosemary) - 6.5/10
Not amazing, but really well laid out to play around with all the separate stories going on. To begin with, Rosemary and Steelz are starting a program now that Rosemary became the #1 contender to the Knockouts title, so they worked a Decay versus Steelz/Evans pair up. Shaw and Frost have been feuding for a while, but now they kinda told the story of them coming together for a greater goal and actually working quite well together, only losing because the tag champs had their shit together now that Kaleb wasn't out there distracting anyone.
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Eddie Edwards - 8.5
This was a total Puroresu match, with all the tropes of an Ishii or NOAH match, with the million amount of strikes and tackle, the fighting spirit, fantastic selling by Ishii that made me think he was knocked out, and the near fall exchange for the ending sequence until Ishii dropped Edwards with a brainbuster.
JONAH & Josh Alexander vs. Moose & PCO - 7/10
Fun hoss match. Story was that neither team had any chemistry and that both separate feuds just wanted to fight each other, but as the match went on, JONAH and Alexander started working better together, managed to force Moose to run away from Alexander, and then they overcame PCO with the C4 and won.
I take it this is the end to JONAH and PCO, so the former can focus on Ishii.
AAA Reina de Reinas Championship Match
Deonna Purrazzo (c) vs. Faby Apache - 6.5/10
Faby Apache was a big surprise, at least for me. In hindsight, I should have known that she was in Dallas because of the AAA show, a show that I confess, I paid zero attention to. However, it bugles my mind that she wasn't booked for any other show during the weekend. GCW had their clusterfuck matches and a show literally themed around Lucha Libre and you don't book, arguably the BEST luchadora in all of Mexico!
The match wasn't great, a lot of miscommunication and mistiming in spots, but they did follow through and get where they wanted to go. It also didn't help that Purrazzo has slowly gained cult favoritism with the Impact fanbase, so we had a Faby Apache that had trouble really working both babyface and heel at the same time. Commentary sold it as "she's not here to pander to the fans, she's here focused on getting the title back."
Match saw Purrazzo work the arm towards the Fujiwara armbar, which she used to win. Apache mostly kept trying to drop Apache with the Angels' Wings.
I do have to wonder if Apache was the original choice, or if it was a last minute change to not have Purrazzo defend the ROH Women's title WHILE Mercedes Martinez was winning an interim one.
Post-match - After the match, Purrazzo talked shit about Mercedes Martinez being the interim champion while the was out there being the actual reigning AND defending ROH Women's Champion. Suddenly, Taya Valkyrie made her return to Impact and told Purrazzo that she was back, but she was coming for the AAA Reina de Reinas title at Rebellion. I'm guessing she works Impact until then, but this is clearly more of a AAA move in my opinion.
Chris Sabin vs. Jay White - 8.75/10
Match was fantastic, I honestly feared that White was just going to dominate, but not only did Sabin get a lot of offense, but he ended up getting the win, giving White his fist loss with Impact. Match was mostly back and forth with the exception of a couple of minutes where White got so pissed that Sabin kept getting the better of him, that he just heeled it up and worked over Sabin for a while. Last couple of minutes with White and Sabin chasing and trading their signature moves was just great, it felt really Jay White-esque, except with Sabin countering the Bladerunner into a roll up win, which was virtually the same thing that happened with Shelley's Shellshock (AKA Bladerunner) and Speedball reversing into a roll up.
Post-match - Steve Maclin jumped Chris Sabin to the point that White and Maclin got into it to get to be the one who beats up Sabin. White ended low blowing Maclin and taking off.
The Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe) vs. The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) - 7/10
Approximately 2 hours prior to this match, the Briscoes had a MOTYC with FTR about a 30 minute drive. This match was clearly cut down due to time constraints, but even if it had their whole allowed time, I just don't know if the Briscoes could realistically go all out again against the Brothers.
So as mentioned, the match was cut short, but what we got was really good, tons of potential for a longer match. Finish came when Mark went for the frog splash and White ran down and tossed him off the ropes and into a magic killer. The show went immedicably off the air not a minute later.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
This being a show without storylines, it really was just like watching wrestling for the sake of wrestling, and for that matter, I thought the show delivered quite well, but I can't say it was a super memorable show. Definitely worth checking out for those single matches rated 8 and above.
April 1st, 2022
Fairmont Hotel, Dallas, TX
Impact X-Division Championship Ultimate X Match
Trey Miguel (c) vs. Rich Swann vs. Vincent vs. Jordynne Grace vs. Chris Bey vs. Blake Christian - 6.5/10
This had glimpses of being great, and while nothing was particularly bad, it really hurt that 80% of the spots were someone climbs the ropes, get brought down the hard way, and rinse-wash-repeat. I didn't think anyone in particular shined over the rest, but I do have to accept that Impact is making me like Vincent more and more, I've really enjoyed all his matches since debuting. The one that I honestly just can't get hyped for is Blake Christian, it's like he's great, but I just see him and not get anything from it, especially compared with guys like Chris Bey who oozes charisma.
Trey won because, well, he's already in a bit of a program with Bailey and Ace Austin towards Rebellion.
Mickie James & Nick Aldis vs. Chelsea Green & Matt Cardona - 5.5/10
I thought this was the worst match of the night, not that the wrestling was bad, but it was just kinda there, requiring a level of heat that is not there yet. This should had been the Rebellion match, but they did it here just a week since Green turned on James. If they had any plans further for Aldis on Impact, this just felt like a weak return to the promotion after about 5 years.
Match itself was that James and Green kept wanting to at each other, and among the chaos, Cardona took advantage to get the upper hand on Aldis. Mickie James was the babyface in peril, Aldis got the hot tag, and it let to a couple of near falls until the end where Aldis and James locked cloverleaves on Cardona and Green respectively for the double tap out win.
Alex Shelley vs. "Speedball" Mike Bailey - 8.5/10
This was freaking great. It was weird seeing Shelley work as heel here since he's been a babyface against the Bullet Club, but I did appreciate that the heel side came from being a veteran and getting pissed that the young Bailey got the upper hand and snapped his eardrum, which I honestly hope that it was a worked sell and that Shelley's ear is ok. He only sold it for a bit, but it was obvious.
Match was mostly back and forth, with Shelley cutting off Bailey's momentums and working the head, while Bailey mostly worked the upper body with kicks, towards hitting Ultima Weapon.
Impact Knockouts Tag Team Championship Match
The Influence (Madison Rayne & Tenille Dashwood) (c) vs. Gisele Shaw & Lady Frost vs. Savannah Evans & Tasha Steelz vs. Decay (Havok & Rosemary) - 6.5/10
Not amazing, but really well laid out to play around with all the separate stories going on. To begin with, Rosemary and Steelz are starting a program now that Rosemary became the #1 contender to the Knockouts title, so they worked a Decay versus Steelz/Evans pair up. Shaw and Frost have been feuding for a while, but now they kinda told the story of them coming together for a greater goal and actually working quite well together, only losing because the tag champs had their shit together now that Kaleb wasn't out there distracting anyone.
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Eddie Edwards - 8.5
This was a total Puroresu match, with all the tropes of an Ishii or NOAH match, with the million amount of strikes and tackle, the fighting spirit, fantastic selling by Ishii that made me think he was knocked out, and the near fall exchange for the ending sequence until Ishii dropped Edwards with a brainbuster.
JONAH & Josh Alexander vs. Moose & PCO - 7/10
Fun hoss match. Story was that neither team had any chemistry and that both separate feuds just wanted to fight each other, but as the match went on, JONAH and Alexander started working better together, managed to force Moose to run away from Alexander, and then they overcame PCO with the C4 and won.
I take it this is the end to JONAH and PCO, so the former can focus on Ishii.
AAA Reina de Reinas Championship Match
Deonna Purrazzo (c) vs. Faby Apache - 6.5/10
Faby Apache was a big surprise, at least for me. In hindsight, I should have known that she was in Dallas because of the AAA show, a show that I confess, I paid zero attention to. However, it bugles my mind that she wasn't booked for any other show during the weekend. GCW had their clusterfuck matches and a show literally themed around Lucha Libre and you don't book, arguably the BEST luchadora in all of Mexico!
The match wasn't great, a lot of miscommunication and mistiming in spots, but they did follow through and get where they wanted to go. It also didn't help that Purrazzo has slowly gained cult favoritism with the Impact fanbase, so we had a Faby Apache that had trouble really working both babyface and heel at the same time. Commentary sold it as "she's not here to pander to the fans, she's here focused on getting the title back."
Match saw Purrazzo work the arm towards the Fujiwara armbar, which she used to win. Apache mostly kept trying to drop Apache with the Angels' Wings.
I do have to wonder if Apache was the original choice, or if it was a last minute change to not have Purrazzo defend the ROH Women's title WHILE Mercedes Martinez was winning an interim one.
Post-match - After the match, Purrazzo talked shit about Mercedes Martinez being the interim champion while the was out there being the actual reigning AND defending ROH Women's Champion. Suddenly, Taya Valkyrie made her return to Impact and told Purrazzo that she was back, but she was coming for the AAA Reina de Reinas title at Rebellion. I'm guessing she works Impact until then, but this is clearly more of a AAA move in my opinion.
Chris Sabin vs. Jay White - 8.75/10
Match was fantastic, I honestly feared that White was just going to dominate, but not only did Sabin get a lot of offense, but he ended up getting the win, giving White his fist loss with Impact. Match was mostly back and forth with the exception of a couple of minutes where White got so pissed that Sabin kept getting the better of him, that he just heeled it up and worked over Sabin for a while. Last couple of minutes with White and Sabin chasing and trading their signature moves was just great, it felt really Jay White-esque, except with Sabin countering the Bladerunner into a roll up win, which was virtually the same thing that happened with Shelley's Shellshock (AKA Bladerunner) and Speedball reversing into a roll up.
Post-match - Steve Maclin jumped Chris Sabin to the point that White and Maclin got into it to get to be the one who beats up Sabin. White ended low blowing Maclin and taking off.
The Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe) vs. The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) - 7/10
Approximately 2 hours prior to this match, the Briscoes had a MOTYC with FTR about a 30 minute drive. This match was clearly cut down due to time constraints, but even if it had their whole allowed time, I just don't know if the Briscoes could realistically go all out again against the Brothers.
So as mentioned, the match was cut short, but what we got was really good, tons of potential for a longer match. Finish came when Mark went for the frog splash and White ran down and tossed him off the ropes and into a magic killer. The show went immedicably off the air not a minute later.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
This being a show without storylines, it really was just like watching wrestling for the sake of wrestling, and for that matter, I thought the show delivered quite well, but I can't say it was a super memorable show. Definitely worth checking out for those single matches rated 8 and above.