IMPACT HITS & MISSES 4/28: Josh Alexander vs. Moose, plus Valkyrie, PCO, Heath & Rhino, Decay, Machine Guns, more

HIT – Opening Segment

Solid start to the show saw Violent By Design come up to address the tag team division and its current state following the loooooong gauntlet match at Rebellion. Young is always very convincing on the mic and came across well here.

Made sense that Heath/Rhino would come out, closely followed by The Briscoes. A lot of people tuned in to see them and good call to get them out. Good pop – they are as charismatic as ever and going to vastly improve the division.

HIT – The Briscoes defeat Heath & Rhino

We know they are going to win; they are not going to lose this early in their tenure here, what are they Honor No More?! Heath/Rhino needed to pivot to more heelish characters to make this work and it did. Dem Boys chemistry is off the charts and move set is going to make any match a guaranteed banger.

PARTIAL HIT – Gujjar defeat VSK

Gujjar’s best match to date as we got to see more of him, and he is good, definite big future. To me, he seems above feuding with Raj Singh and Shera, and part of me feels a little uneasy that all of the acts of Indian heritage are immediately put together in a program.

Highlight of the show was the super adorable kid trying to get a VSK chant going – if their parents are reading this, give them a fist bump from me.

HIT – Ace Austin and Rocky Romero Segment

Great backstage work from Austin, who comes across as a top tier talent the way he presents himself. Romero will be a good first opponent for him in his third title run. Speedball Mike Bailey had a fun moment in amongst all this also.

HIT – Honor No More defeat Motor City Machine Guns & Mike Bailey

Thank whatever God of your choosing, but Honor No More got a big win! They have needed this for several weeks. The finish was good – Death Valley Driver, assisted by two superkicks – what is there not to like.

No Vincent or PCO (they appear later in show), suggests perhaps they are breaking off from the gang, which I can see as they do stand out a little, but I think we need strength in numbers for the faction. Would have also made sense as they are currently in a war with Bullet Club, who attacked after the match, and delivered the 100th Magic Killer I have seen in this calendar month.

HIT – Taya Valkyrie promo

Strong fire promo from Taya after her, arguably, surprising win last weekend. Purrazzo with the sneak attack to continue this program was good and good intensity from The Virtuosa as she looks to regain her Champ Champ status.

PARTIAL HIT – Vincent and PCO segment

Nice touch of zany comedy from these two, which hints at continuing the feud with Jonah. Jonah has had a very definitive win over PCO and Vincent entering the picture seems to indicate that perhaps Jonah has a friend to come and help.

Probably more Jonah could be doing but should be fun to see where this goes in the coming weeks.

PARTIAL HIT – Decay defeat Tasha Steelz & Savannah Evans

Perfectly fine match as Steelz continues her feud with Decay, maybe once she defeats the other half, she moves onto Black Taurus and Crazzy Steve. My only concern is that after a high-profile program with Mickie James, she is now in a very meh situation now with Decay.

HIT – Josh Alexander defeats Moose

Part One was my match of the year so far, part two was fantastic, maybe not as good as part one, but still very much impressive. Few little things that I liked – mainly the fact that storyline wise, Alexander was competing with more confidence to show that he knew he could beat him, whereas in the first match he showed some unsure moments.

The only minor thing I didn’t LOVE was the part of the action where both competitors are trading shots and chops. Only because it had been done a couple of times earlier in show, and so we seen it for a third time. Would be good if someone in an authority position said to the lower card matches to not do that tonight so it meant more later in show.

Also, something that I thought about as Moose came out is how damn good his entrance music is, suits his character so well and ties in with his overall presentation.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

Another excellent show where we were treated to a World Title match as the main event. I was delighted Honor No More got a big win that they needed so much. No Morrissey, Major Players, or Jonah so some good rotation of the roster to keep things fresh.

Couple of interesting things that I will be discussing with Darrin on our VIP podcast, is the Iinspiration leaving – where does this leave the tag division, the appearance next week on Dynamite of two top tier stars, and where does Sami Callihan fit in, if he is indeed the person behind the vignette on the show.