IMAPCT! Wrestling Review - April 14, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Major Players Attacked W. Morrissey

Morrissey tweeted today that this was same arena was where he had a health scare a few years back and he was at his lowest point ever, as he reiterated in this promo. Congrats to him for coming so far and turning his life around, that's awesome. It felt like he was slowly turning babyface during his program with Moose and it looks looks that face turn has been completed. This was a fantastic segment where Morrissey and the newly-formed Major Players (Brian Myers, Matt Cardona and Chelsea Green) all played their roles well. Morrissey vs. Cardona can be a fun feud.

ROH Women's World Champion and AAA Reina de Reinas Champion Deonna Purrazzo def. Willow Nightingale in the Champ Champ Challenge (AAA Reina de Reinas Championship Was Not Defended)

As much as I like Nightingale and as happy as I was to see her pop up here, it made no sense for her to be challenging for the ROH Women's World Championship considering she just fell short of beating Mercedes Martinez to become the interim champ at Ring of Honor's Supercard of Honor pay-per-view. That aside, this may have been Purrazzo's best match in the Champ Champ Challenge and Nightingale's best bout ever. They worked really well together and Nightingale gained plenty in defeat. I continue to hope Tony Khan will bring in Nightingale as part of his revamped ROH.

ROH World Champion Jonathan Gresham def. Rocky Romero (Non-Title)

It's so damn cool to see Gresham making the rounds recently as ROH World Champion and bringing more eyes to that belt. He beat Bandido to become the undisputed champ at the start of the month at Ring of Honor's Supercard of Honor pay-per-view, appeared on this episode, and will defend his title against Dalton Castle at AEW's Battle of the Belts II special this Saturday. Romero is super skilled and thus these two put on a clinic. This was a successful warm-up for Gresham before he faces Eddie Edwards at Rebellion.

Alex Shelley def. Steve Maclin

This stemmed from Maclin attacking Chris Sabin following his win over Jay White at Multiverse of Matches. Maclin has been damn impressive in the ring since coming to IMPACT and Shelley is obviously outstanding, so unsurprisingly, this was a very entertaining affair. I figured Maclin would win so he could be protected, but I guess not. This lose won't kill his momentum or anything (especially after a performance like that), but I am curious where he goes from here along with The Motor City Machine Guns.

Honor No More and Bullet Club Brawled

Honor No More started out this segment addressing the audience and explaining how this Philadelphia crowd specifically turned their backs on them during their time in ROH. They have a lot of history with several of the members of Bullet Club, so I enjoyed the verbal exchange the two groups had here and the fans were into it. The brawl that ensued was well done and kicks off a faction feud that I'm very interested who ultimately goes over in.

JONAH def. PCO

These two originally faced off on last month's Sacrifice special where JONAH picked up the victory. That was once again the case here, along with the fact that they had another hard-hitting affair with some top-notch action. Their chemistry is that good. There was a chance PCO could've won to avenge that loss, but I'm glad JONAH scored a second straight win over him instead seeing as how JONAH will be facing Tomohiro Ishii at Rebellion. JONAH has really been able to prove his worth since being released from WWE NXT last summer.

Overall Show

Last week's edition of IMPACT! Wrestling featured full replays of matches from Multiverse of Matches earlier this month, hence why there was no review from me because I already reviewed that event. As for this episode, it was excellent. It felt like there was more talking than usual, but all of it was great and served a purpose, so I have no complaints, not to mention that the wrestling was above-average. It's obvious IMPACT has made more of an effort to cut down on the comedy and instead focus on becoming more of a straightforward product. It's resulted in the shows being the strongest they've been in years. I find myself very excited for Rebellion next weekend.

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