IMPACT Hard to Kill Review - January 16, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Pre-Show: Brian Myers def. Josh Alexander

These two previously clashed on an episode of IMPACT! Wrestling and I believe Myers won by disqualification following interference from Ethan Page. They're both heels as far as I know, but this was a very well-wrestled match, nonetheless. Myers has been able to showcase his skills since coming to IMPACT and Alexander is very good in his own right. I didn't think Alexander would take the clean loss since he was so heavily protected during his time with Page in The North. He has major potential as a singles star, so hopefully IMPACT will capitalize on that eventually and not waste him in the undercard for the remainder of his contract.

Decay (Rosemary and Crazzy Steve) def. Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb

It was cool to see Decay reunite after almost four years. They were one of my favorite factions from that period of IMPACT and it's probably best for them to be back together at this point, unless this was only a one-off. Too bad Abyss (a.k.a. Chris Park) is currently in WWE and couldn't join them. At any rate, this was a fun mixed tag team match to kick off the show. Everyone played their roles well and it was nice to see Kaleb in the ring for a change, even though he's more of a comedy character and less of the talented wrestler he actually is.

Violent by Design (Eric Young, Joe Doering and Deaner) def. Cousin Jake, Tommy Dreamer and Rhino in an Old School Rules Match

I like the name Violent by Design for the new heel faction. Young did well leading SAnitY in WWE NXT, so I could see him having similar success leading Doering and Deaner. As an Old School Rules match, this was exactly what it needed to be and played to the strengths of Dreamer and Rhino. Dreamer has had a ton of these kinds of matches in the last few years alone in IMPACT, but at least he kept limited due to it being a six-man tag team match. Needless to say, the right trio went over, though I wouldn't have had Jake be the one who got pinned.

Fire 'N Flava def. Havok and Nevaeh to Become the New Impact Knockouts Tag Team Champions

Fire and Flava is a nice new team name for Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz. They're a far better duo than Havok and Nevaeh in my opinion both in the ring and as characters, but to their credit, Havok and Nevaeh had one of their best showings to date in this match. It never reached that next gear (which was disappointing given that this was the finals of a tournament) and the heel vs. heel dynamic was weird, but it was still solid. I was worried Havok and Nevaeh would win because they've already lost to Fire and Flava twice, but Fire and Flava taking the titles instead was the correct outcome.

Matt Cardona def. Ace Austin by Disqualification

Woah! I certainly wasn't expecting to see Cardona in IMPACT, but I'm not complaining. He had an intentionally short stint with AEW over the summer and it's cool that he's made his way over to IMPACT. His longtime tag partner Brian Myers/Curt Hawkins is obviously also a part of the roster and I think it's more a matter of when than if we'll see them either reunite or feud (or both). This didn't last long, but it didn't need to as it was solely designed to introduce Cardona and Austin shouldn't be losing coming off his Super X Cup win last week. What we got was good, though.

Impact X-Division Champion Manik def. Rohit Raju and Chris Bey in a Three-Way Match

Manik, Raju and Bey are all excellent and thus this was a great match. They constantly kept the pace moving, produced some strong nearfalls, and put forth a fantastic effort. I assumed Manik would retain, but it really could have ended with any one of them winning. The only thing I didn't like about this was when Raju unmasked Manik to reveal that it was TJP in makeup. Are we supposed to believe it's a different person because he had face pain on? That was pretty dumb. but like I said, this was a terrific three-way otherwise.

Impact Knockouts Championship Deonna Purrazzo def. Taya Valkyrie

Purrazzo and Valkyrie are two of the best women's wrestlers in IMPACT right now, so I had high hopes for this. Unfortunately, although there wasn't anything technically wrong with it, the bout wasn't as exciting as I figured it would be. The wrestling was fine, but maybe it was just a lack of chemistry? At least Rosemary, Steve, Susan and Kimber Lee were barred from ringside early on. I could certainly see this being Valkyrie's swan song from IMPACT if she ends up not re-signing. I expect her to stick around, but I don't think that's been confirmed yet.

Eddie Edwards def. Sami Callihan in a Barbed Wire Massacre

I feel like IMPACT revisited this rivalry because they have no idea what else to do with them. Callihan has been spinning his wheels since losing the Impact World Championship a year ago at Hard to Kill and his alliance with Ken Shamrock hasn't amounted to much yet. Edwards has been bouncing from feud to feud as well without much direction. Despite all that, this was a total war. I wasn't sold on the stipulation going in, but they made the most of it and put their bodies through hell. It also wasn't too reckless, either, which I appreciated. I have no idea what's next for either of these guys.

AEW World Champion Kenny Omega and Impact World Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers def. Impact World Champion Rich Swann, Moose and Chris Sabin

Omega, Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows coming out wearing Bullet Club merchandise was super interesting. It's a New Japan Pro-Wrestling faction, so I hope the rest of Bullet Club take exception to this or come over to address it (or vice versa). As expected, this was a top-notch main event. Moose having to replace Alex Shelley was a bummer, but he more than held his own and brought a different dynamic to it. Hell, it can be argued he was the MVP, which is saying something considering who was involved. This was fast-paced, exciting and just an absolute blast. Omega pinning Swann for the victory should set him up for a shot at the Impact World Championship sooner rather than later.

Overall Show

It's about time IMPACT started using canned crowd noise for their shows. I know it's not for everyone, but it's a vast improvement over no noise at all. We also got the commentary debut of Matt Striker and D'Lo Brown on this pay-per-view. I thought they did well, but it will take time for them to develop chemistry together. The event itself was very enjoyable on the whole with the main event putting it over the top. In addition to the star-studded main event, we also got new Impact Knockouts Champions and Matt Cardona made his debut. The X-Division title three-way was also awesome. The only thing I didn't care for was the dumb cinematic "match" between Ethan Page and his alter-ego. I like Page, but that was a waste of time and embarrassing to watch. Other than that, this was an above-average pay-per-view for IMPACT, so let's hope they can keep the momentum rolling.