IMPACT Emergence Review - August 27, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Pre-Show: "Speedball" Mike Bailey def. Alan Angels

Angels has been playing the heel role well on his own, even though he hasn't won a ton of matches. This was no exception, but I thought he and Bailey put together a nice match that was wisely positioned on the pre-show. Bailey hasn't done a whole lot for a while now, but wins like this will keep him busy and eventually earn him another shot at the Impact X-Division Championship down the road.

Pre-Show: JOYA def. The Good Hands

Pairing Joe Henry and Yuya Uemura together was a logical next step for both guys coming off their time in the Impact Digital Media Championship picture. I don't think they'll be winning the tag titles together, but they could be fine challengers for the champions at some point. This allowed them to develop chemistry as partners and they did well. It was a decent match, but The Good Hands losing was practically a foregone conclusion.

Eric Young def. Deaner in a No Disqualification Match

Giving this the No Disqualification stipulation was the right call as it made it more interesting than it would have been as a standard singles match. I just can't bring myself to care about The Design, but to their credit, Deaner and Young had a fun brawl here and made the most of the time they had. Now let's hope Young winning decisively means this rivalry has been put to rest once and for all and Young can move on.

Impact Knockouts World Tag Team Champions MK Ultra def. The Death Dollz, Gisele Shaw & Savannah Evans, and KiLynn King & Jody Threat in a Four-Way Tag Team Match

This essentially served as a showcase for IMPACT's Knockouts tag team division. There's actually more teams than I thought. MK Ultra just became champs not too long ago, so it would have been a mistake for them to lost the titles so soon. This wasn't consistently smooth and was one of the weaker matches of the night, but everyone worked hard and it lasted about as long as it needed to. After wiping out pretty much the entire division, who's left for MK Ultra? On a side note, I'm not sure if Taylor Wilde's injury is a storyline or if she's legitimately hurt.

Impact Digital Media Champion Kenny King def. Johnny Swinger

It was noted beforehand that Swinger won his sole title in TNA/IMPACT (the TNA World Tag Team Championship with Simon Diamond) exactly 20 years ago to the day. I figured King would win, but Heath's interference and Swinger taking advantage did lead to that one suspenseful nearfall. This was an average outing, but I'm not sure why it had to be on the main card when it instead could have slotted on the pre-show.

The Rascalz def. Subculture (Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster) to Win the Impact World Tag Team Championship

Subculture have not been champions for much more than a month, but I had no issue with The Rascalz taking the titles here. They've been on a roll since Zachary Wentz' return to the company and the endgame should be a feud between them and ABC. Subculture are a very talented team, though, and even as transitional champs, they've been delivering in the ring. This was a quality contest and it's cool that The Rascalz have finally won gold together (in IMPACT, that is, because Wentz previously won the NXT Tag Team Championship with Wes Lee).

Eddie Edwards def. Frankie Kazarian in a Back to School Match

This took place at Killer Kowalski's wrestling school, which both Edwards and Kazarian trained at. I'm surprised IMPACT took the cinematic approach with this and had it air during a live event with the crowd apparently watching on the big screen, but at least it wasn't lengthy and didn't drag on. I appreciate their attempt to try something different, if nothing else. Personally, it worked for me, but Eddie and Alisha attacking Kazarian after Eddie's win indicates the feud isn't over yet.

IWGP World Heavyweight Champion SANADA def. Jake Something

The IWGP World Heavyweight Championship being defended should've felt like a bigger deal than it did. Of course, there was zero chance of Something taking the title, but it's not like SANADA has the same aura about him that past champs have, at least in my opinion as someone who doesn't regularly watch New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Nonetheless, they had a solid match with Something scoring enough offense before eating defeat.

Moose, Brian Myers, Bully Ray and Impact X-Division Champion Lio Rush def. Josh Alexander and Time Machine

Despite the lack of stakes, this turned out to be a very good match. It was as chaotic as you'd expect with a lot of moving parts, especially toward the end, but it was entertaining and managed to further several storylines at once. Rush and Chris Sabin factored each other out, PCO eliminated Bully from the equation, and Moose pinning the returning Alexander tells the story of Alexander potentially coming back from injury too soon. Steve Maclin made a surprise appearance as well attacking Alexander, so I'm glad that feud wasn't forgotten about.

Impact Knockouts World Champion Trinity def. Deonna Purrazzo

Kudos to IMPACT for putting the women on last. There was no Impact World Championship defense, and although the title didn't change hands here, they were worthy of the spot. They had another very well-worked match and I'm glad Trinity won clean without any shenanigans. Jordynne Grace was announced as returning on this show, so she might be next in line for a shot at the strap soon.

Overall Show

This continued IMPACT's streak of enjoyable events that you don't necessarily need to seek out, but you aren't wasting your time by tuning in, either. Emergence was more significant from a storyline standpoint than Multiverse United 2 last week, but it also wasn't overly eventful beyond the Impact World Tag Team Championship changing hands. That said, there was nothing bad, some storylines were paid off, and viewers were left looking forward to what's to come.

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