IMPACT Against All Odds Review - June 12, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Sami Callihan and Tommy Dreamer def. The Good Brothers in a Tag Team Street Fight

When it was said on Thursday's IMPACT! Wrestling episode that Callihan would get to pick his partner for this match, I was hoping it would be someone from AEW (specifically Eddie Kingston) or at least some sort of a surprise, not Tommy Dreamer. Listen, I love Dreamer, but as I've said time and time again, I don't need to see him wrestling regularly in 2021, especially on an Impact Plus show. On the bright side, the Street Fight stipulation worked to his advantage as well as having Callihan as his partner. This was anything too crazy, but as an opener, it was serviceable.

Impact World Tag Team Champion Joe Doering def. Satoshi Kojima

I really didn't know what to expect from this outing as Doering hasn't had a ton of matches in IMPACT (and not very many on his own), and Kojima is a bit older. I was aware of their history from Japan, but that didn't mean their chemistry would necessarily translate well to IMPACT. Although this wasn't a mat classic, it ended up being better than I thought it would be. Kojima can more than hold his own and Doering had a perfectly passable performance. With Doering winning, I assume this marks the end of Kojima's short-lived stint in IMPACT.

Ace Austin vs. vs. Trey Miguel vs. Chris Bey vs. Petey Williams vs. Rohit Raju in an Impact X-Division Championship Five-Way Match Ended in a No Contest

This is nothing new, but the X-Division is just on another level right now. I wasn't watching TNA in its early years, but I imagine this is what the X-Division was like back then as they're consistently killing it at the moment, especially in the multi-man matches. This was an absolute blast with everyone giving it a great effort and the pace being frantic throughout. Madman Fulton interfering and attacking everyone, which led to the non-finish, was disappointing, but my guess is that this leads to a King of the Mountain match at Slammiversary with Josh Alexander defending against everyone. He made a comment recently about being the king of the mountain in the X-Division, so that would make the most sense, even though I'm not a big fan of that stipulation.

W. Morrissey def. Rich Swann

I knew this would be good, but I didn't think it would be as good as it ended up being. Seriously, this was a strong effort, and not because Swann carried Morrissey. If that was the case, then Morrissey would have been having instant classics with Daniel Bryan before he got fired from WWE three years ago. These two had terrific chemistry and told a simple story with Swann fighting from underneath but Morrissey kicking out of everything in his arsenal. Morrissey's offense looked brutal and it took a lot for him to put Swann away. I know it's only been two months, but Morrissey has been delivering since coming to IMPACT.

Tenille Dashwood def. Jordynne Grace

These two had a really good series of matches late last year and this was more of the same from them. Dashwood is doing her best in-ring work so far with IMPACT at the moment while Grace's gradual descent into madness has been intriguing to follow. I liked how much time this was given despite there not being anything up for grabs and that they were able to have the match they were capable of. Grace's latest loss plays into her looming heel turn, which should be coming sooner rather later. I'd watch my back if I were Rachael Ellering.

Impact Knockouts Tag Team Champions Fire 'N Flava def. Kimber Lee and Susan

​I didn't have much interest in this match coming into the show because Lee and Susan haven't been presented as any sort of threat lately and it definitely felt like filler, but I commend them for putting together a perfectly average match. There wasn't anything too special or too terrible about it, but the effort was there and they made nice use of the time they had. This was an easy win for Fire 'N Flava.

Impact World Tag Team Champions Violent By Design (Deaner and Rhino) def. Decay (Crazzy Steve and Black Taurus)

This was another match where I didn't think there was any suspense surrounding the outcome considering Violent By Design just won the titles, but I enjoyed this a bit more because I like both teams. They had a well-wrestled match and they had quality chemistry together. This latest incarnation of Decay has been fun, but there was no reason to take the titles off Violent By Design so soon.

Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrrazzo def. Rosemary

I remember these two having a match against each other earlier in the year on TV, but this obviously had a bigger fight feel to it with it being an Impact Plus special. Purrazzo consistently delivers with her title defenses and her having a talented opponent such as Rosemary only helps. I really liked the story they told with Purrazzo targeting Rosemary's previously-injured knee throughout and that cost her in the end. We haven't seen Taylor Wilde in a few weeks, so we'll probably come to find out that Purrazzo had something to do with that and then they'll face off for the title at Slammiversary.

Impact World Champion Kenny Omega def. Moose

I'm not going to bother writing down every other title Omega currently holds because there's just so many of them. The Impact World Championship was the only one on the line here. It was a superb main event with the two working as well together as I was hoping them to and the atmosphere in Daily's Place (the home of AEW) was awesome. Just having some semblance of an audience for an IMPACT match for the first time in a year was refreshing, even if it was just AEW/Dark talent. This was going great up until the interference from The Young Bucks. It was a clever ending I guess, but obviously, I would've preferred a cleaner finish. Will Moose be inserted into Omega vs. Callihan at Slammiversary? Speaking of Callihan, he popped up afterward and went after The Elite before being "fired" by Don Callis, so we'll see where that leads. Getting Callihan on AEW programming ahead of Slammiversary (maybe to team with Eddie Kingston while Jon Moxley is away) would be damn cool.

Overall Show

I don't think IMPACT gets enough credit for these Impact Plus specials, which have been largely above-average this year. The booking is logical, the matches mostly deliver, and it builds the bridge between the quarterly pay-per-views. Omega vs. Moose was obviously the most must-see match on this show (and worth checking out), but the event on the whole was rock solid with there being a few very well worked matches in the undercard. Next up is Slammiversary, and with that being IMPACT's first show with fans since the pandemic started, I'm hoping they'll go all out for it like they did last year.

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