IMPACT WRESTLING HITS & MISSES (7/27): Swinger vs. Dice, Time Splitters vs. Moose & Meyers, Trinity & Luna vs. The Coven, more

IMPACT HITS AND MISSES
JULY 27, 2023
WINDSOR, ONT AT ST. CLAIR COLLEGE SPORTSPLEX
AIRED ON AXS TV (RECORDED)
REPORT BY JOHN LASLO, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

(1) TRINITY & DANI LUNA vs. THE COVEN (KiLynn King & Taylor Wilde) – HIT

I am not sure why Trinity and Dani Luna are teaming together, is it because they both have green hair (sometimes)? Is it because they have both been in the company for less than a year? Is it because they both were in the WWE system? Who knows? It was still a great match, even if one side didn’t make sense. The fact that Trinity beat Taylor Wilde helps establish her legitimacy as a world title holder, since Wilde is a former world title holder herself. I’m actually surprised it took this long for Deonna Purrazzo to come out and invoke her rematch clause for Emergence.

BRIAN MEYERS, MOOSE, LIO RUSH, AND BULLY RAY STAIRWAY VIGNETTE – MINOR HIT

Oh, look, let’s form a heel stable! Let’s put all the heels together! Brian Meyers was better off with the Good Hands, and the inevitable betrayal by Moose or Bully Ray will have a fun fall out, I’m not exactly thrilled over this. Let Lio Rush stick out on his own for awhile or at least give him a faction that fits him.

DIRTY DANGO AND JOHN E BRAVO PROMO – MINOR HIT

I like John E Bravo (or Alpha Bravo as he wants to be known), but I don’t think that Dirty Dango needed a partner or a manager. I think he was doing fine on his own. I think this could lead to a nice low card feud between Dango, Santino Marella, and Bravo.

(2) JOHNNY SWINGER vs. ZICKY DICE – HIT

I’m going to miss Zicky Dice. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, but Zicky Dice can work. This match was more of a comedy outting than anything else, and I’m not going to complain…Too much. I think he got pigeon holed in Impact as JUST a comedy wrestler. Comedy has its place, and Impact wouldn’t be the same without the occasional comedy bit. In all honesty, I would have rather had Dice stay and become a more serious wrestler, and have Marella remain a comedy guy. Overall, this was a fine match, and a decent end to the Dice and Swinger team. It’s not how I would want it to go, but once they made it a “Loser Leaves Town” match, this was going to be how it ended. I hope Zicky can go out, and eventually come back with a Jake Something like return.

JOE HENDY & YUYA UEMURA & SANTINO MARELLA BACKSTAGE – MINOR HIT

I want to see Yuya Uemura get a title. I would prefer it to be X-Division, but I’ll take Digital Media Championship. However, I think they are putting Uemura in this match to eat the pin and keep Kenny King and Joe Hendry strong. I’m getting VERY tired of Uemura being the designated loser in these matches. He’s got potential.

NICK ALDIS BACKSTAGE – MISS

Ok, a really stereotypical stay tuned for my match promo, but wow, I never realized how much Jimmy Jacobs added to these. It’s not the same.

(3) MASHA SLAMOVICH (w/Killer Kelly) vs. GISELE SHAW (w/Jai Vidal & Savannah Evans) – HIT

I really like the MK Ultra entrance that Masha Slamovich came down to, it’s a bit better than her western whistle start of her own entrance theme. This was a great match, and the two wrestlers had great chemistry in the ring. The cheating leading to Gisele Shaw’s win is expected, but I feel like the Shaw-ntourage is becoming the defacto ‘just throw them into the mix’ in the Knock Outs division. They seem to have things going on with The Death Dollz (with Jody Threat), and The Coven, and are even being seen on the main event scene. The biggest problem is that Savannah Evans is ALWAYS being the one to get pinned. She’s not coming across as a bodyguard monster threat anymore.

JAKE SOMETHING VIDEO PACKAGE – HIT

Who directs these? They are so good. Even the way that it subtly hints at his former gimmick of a redneck with Deaner but doesn’t outright say it, is so good. When people ask me why I love Impact, it is stuff like this. It’s great, and rewarding for those who have been paying attention, but not so much that it will cause a problem for those who haven’t been paying attention for the last five years.

(4) TIME SPLITTERS (Alex Shelley & Kushida) vs. MOOSE & BRIAN MYERS – HIT

Really? I honestly thought that the Time Splitters had teamed in Impact before, but no, that was always Time Machine (MCMG with Kushida). Brian Meyers is another one like Evans that is becoming the designated pin taker. I wasn’t surprised by Bully Ray getting involved, but I was a little surprised by Lio Rush coming down, but it was nice to see Chris Sabin come back. Oh, look, a baby face faction. How nice for us! We now get to have a heel vs babyface faction war.

FLASHBACK MOMENT OF THE WEEK – MISS

I pay $4.99 a month to watch things I have already seen?

BTI REPLAY – MISS

Again, I pay $4.99 a month to watch things I just watched for free?

ALAN ANGELS VIDEO PACKAGE – HIT

Like with the Jake Something video package earlier, this looks good. Angels is getting better at promos as well.

RASCALZ AND MIKE BAILEY PARKING LOT – HIT

Mike Bailey dropping a lot of things I’ve been feeling. The only thing that I find unrealistic about this segment is that I can’t see Mike Bailey leaving the empty bag in the parking lot. He strikes me as a guy who would at least pick up the bag, maybe not the popcorn, but definitely the bag.

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(5) “SPEEDBALL” MIKE BAILEY vs. ZACHARY WENTZ (w/Trey Miguel) – HIT

Impact really likes their teams ending with Z, don’t they? It’s like 1998 all over again. Which is fitting for this X-Division match (the X means EXTREME, but not like the ECW extreme, more like X-Games extreme). I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, I will be saying it until he retires, but Mike Bailey doesn’t know how to have a bad match. This was exactly the type of match that I would expect from the penultimate match on an Impact show. I loved that Trey Miguel got kicked out and caused a distraction for Wentz to cheat the win.

(6) ERIC YOUNG vs. NICK ALDIS – HIT

One thing I like to say is that Impact is ‘the wrestling fans’ wrestling’. This match was a classic example of that phrase. Nick Aldis represents a classic old school style, and Eric Young represents the continuous change of professional wrestling. Even then, this was a great technical match, contrasting with the Bailey vs. Wentz match that just ended. While there were touches of the new, this match would not have been out of place at anypoint in Pro-Wrestling history from the territory days to the Monday night wars to now. It isn’t going to get a four or five star rating, it’s not a match for everyone, but it was a great match between two season vets. Even the end was classic, the wrestler leaving goes out on his back, and then the winner immediately starting a new arch with his former protege.

FINAL THOUGHTS – HIT

There’s been a lot going on about how Impact has been doing more weekly views on AXS TV and selling more PPVs lately. I think that right now, Impact is doing some great work at STARTING things for those new viewers while rewarding long term fans. I think that there are a lot of reasons for this bump. I think Trinity brought in some new viewers, and they stayed around. I think that the Knocks Out division is hitting on all cylinders and there are a lot of women’s wrestling fans who are very aware of the state of women’s wrestling outside of Impact. Last, I think it is just the consistent quality. The Big Two are not consistent, and often miss the most obvious things. Impact just makes sense.

RECOMMENDED NEXT: IMPACT WRESTLING TV REPORT (7/27): Time Splitters vs. Moose & Myers, Young vs. Aldis

OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: Powell’s Impact Wrestling Hit List: Eric Young vs. Nick Aldis, Mike Bailey vs. Zachary Wentz, Johnny Swinger vs. Zicky Dice in a loser leaves Impact match, Gisele Shaw vs. Masha Slamovich