SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
HIT – W. Morrissey Opening Promo: Superb start to the show with Morrissey getting a little time to tell his personal story over the last few years. Of course, kudos to him for reinventing himself and its great to see him in a good place in his life and he has clearly worked for it.
Segment was a massive hit because of what happened afterwards with the Major Players reuniting to take down Morrissey. Its nice that the several weeks of Morrissey destroying everything related to Myers or Myers adjacent went somewhere and shows the current levels of great long-term storytelling in play at Impact in 2022.
HIT –Deonna Purrazzo vs. Willow Nightingale: Another great outing for the Virtuosa in the Champ Champ challenge this week. Willow Nightingale was fine and was enjoying herself out there too.
It’s a genuine highlight each week of television, especially as we know one day its going to be a challenger with a legitimate chance of dethroning. Again, one of the most impressive moments was the ways that Purrazzo gets to her finisher, always a unique route she takes.
HIT – Mickie James Backstage Segment: Continuation of the storyline coming out of Multiverse, James continues to be an excellent and likeable promo.
It seems that the Major Players are teaming up to help vanquish opponents that individually they have been no match for which is classic heel work and should lead I would imagine to some fresh exciting match ups.
Also bodes well that we will get to see Nick Aldis again, which I am happy about.
HIT – Jonathan Gresham vs. Rocky Romero: Gresham with another slick performance here, ably assisted by Rocky Romero. The finishing sequence was incredible.
Romero being around for the odd match here and there has been invaluable because he has the name and star power to make anyone beat him look good and be a nice notch in their belt. He is also a very underrated worker I feel and doesn’t always get the credit for his match quality.
The only slight issue is Gresham’s future with Impact, as it would appear that he is “all-in” (sorry!) with AEW now, so perhaps his match at Rebellion might be his last with the company.
HIT – Steve Maclin vs. Alex Shelley: It appears that Alex Shelley has come back with a wish list of talent he wants to work with to get over and to have some fun fresh matches.
Arguably you want Maclin to win and look strong as he is a potential future champion in the promotion, but the finish helped get that over that he only lost because he lost his concentration by focusing on Sabin.
Overall, a fine match, with some splendid work from both wrestlers.
HIT – Jonah vs. PCO: The match started immediately following the brawl between Bullet Club and Honor No More and was exactly as you would have expected.
Definitely a good match, although I personally thought their first match was a little better, however I am an unashamed fan of two big guys battering each other for 10-15 minutes on a TV main event. As long as they can go, of course, not advocating for them to sign Great Khali and Tyrus and have them go at it!
I am genuinely terrified watching PCO doing some of the stuff he does, but as long as he is happy, I am happy for it to be a guilty pleasure of mine to see what he will do next!
Interesting after match watching Jonah brutalise PCO as that perhaps seemed a bit out of character but could be him getting fired up for Ishii.
HIT – World Title Build: We spoke on our VIP podcast about where they go with this feud as we had already involved the family of Alexander, so tough to keep that pace up before the PPV. So, the decision to have video packages was a solid one. Also, in part because the production values are so particularly good these days and this just made me want to see what happens next week on the last TV episode before Rebellion.
I would imagine we are in for a blockbuster face to face summit.
MINOR HIT – Honor No More and Bullet Club Confrontation: Fairly decent mic work from all concerned here. Maria in particular was great, more of her on the mic please, and the highlight was Karl Anderson saying: “You’re the toys no one wants to play with anymore.”
Not sure where this goes long term and its hard to root for any particular faction here, as both are presented as heels in the main, outwith Jay White who is getting babyface reactions wherever he goes these days.
I would hope that somehow Honor No More comes out on top here, as discussed plenty of times before they need some damn wins.
OVERALL THOUGHTS: Probably as good a show as there has been this year. Nothing negative to speak of the serious bits were well done, and the comedy bits also.
We need more eyeballs watching this show so they can keep this level of quality up, and hopefully the ratings start to take a turn and some of the more “temporary” stars are allowed to play a little longer.
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