IMPACT Rebellion Review - April 25, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Josh Alexander def. Ace Austin and TJP in a Three-Way Match to Win the Impact X-Division Championship

These three have been having terrific matches week after week for a while now and this was no less excellent. It was wisely positioned as the opener and all three guys came out of it looking great. Austin wasn't champion for very long, but I was happy to see Alexander become the new Impact X-Division Champion. He's had a slew of stellar performances since Ethan Page's departure and have a hell of a reign if he can keep it up.

W. Morrissey and Violent By Design (Joe Doering, Deaner and Rhino) def. Willie Mack, Eddie Edwards, James Storm and Chris Sabin

Morrissey is, of course, the former Big Cass from WWE, or CaZXL as he was going by on the independent scene for a while. It was rumored coming into the event that he would appear and this proved to be the perfect spot for him, as opposed to rushing him into the main event (which is absolutely something IMPACT would have done years ago). I was never the biggest fan of him on his own, but I'm willing to give him a chance now that he's cleaned up his act outside of the ring and appears to be phenomenal shape. This was a well-worked eight-man tag team match with the right team going over. Hopefully Eric Young isn't out of action too long because he's in the midst of one of the best runs of his career.

Brian Myers def. Matt Cardona

Cardona and Myers have obviously been working with and against each other for years, so I had no doubt that this would be a quality contest. It wasn't a barn burner by any means, but I enjoyed it and thought they did a nice job with the storytelling aspect of it. Cardona was going for his finisher when he hurt his knee, so Myers capitalized and pinned him for the three count. No, I don't think it was a real injury but rather a way to protect Cardona in defeat and keep the storyline going.

Jordynne Grace and Rachael Ellering def. Fire 'N Flava to Win the Impact Knockouts Tag Team Championship

With Jazz now retired, Ellering debuted as Grace's new partner on Thursday's episode of IMPACT! Wrestling. Speaking of Jazz, she was ringside for this. I missed parts of this match due to my stream cutting out, but what I caught was good. Fire 'N Flava have been very entertaining since joining forces last year, but Grace and Ellering were the correct choice to take the titles from them.

Trey Miguel def. Sami Callihan in a Last Man Standing Match

The whole story of this feud is that Callihan claimed Miguel didn't have any heart. Well, Miguel's heart was on full display in this match as he took Callihan to the limit, kept getting back up and went the extra mile to put him away. Miguel has really stepped it up throughout this rivalry and this was easily his best singles showing to date. I honestly can't remember the last time Callihan won at a pay-per-view, but at least he plays the role of stepping stone well. He certainly put Miguel over big time here. The key with Miguel is the aftermath and how he's booked from here.

Impact World Tag Team Champions FinJuice def. The Good Brothers

This was a rematch from the Sacrifice special in early March. FinJuice have been over in Japan representing IMPACT as the tag team champions for the most part since then. It was another solid match from the two teams. Nothing that I'll likely remember a week ago, but they filled the time well. Part of me expected Good Brothers to win so The Elite could end the evening with all the gold, but considering FinJuice won with a roll-up, maybe the feud will continue and they'll get the belts back before long.

Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo def. Tenille Dashwood

Purrazzo and Dashwood have faced off a handful of times before, but never in IMPACT. Needless to say, they're both super talented and thus this was a treat. I was worried it would hurt by the heel vs. heel dynamic, but that didn't really seem to matter, especially with no crowd. I was also glad there wasn't too much outside interference from Kimber Lee, Susan or Kaleb with a K. Taylor Wilde returning afterward means she's next in line for a title shot and I'm all for that.

AEW World Champion Kenny Omega def. Rich Swann in a Winner Takes All Match to Win the Impact World Championship

Swann's TNA World Heavyweight Championship was also on the line here (hence why Omega was wearing three title belts at the end), but I refuse to even acknowledge that. In all seriousness, this was a great main event. You had to know that going in given who was involved, but there was a chance of it falling flat because of the predictable outcome. However, that wasn't the case, and instead, they gave it an awesome effort. None of the nearfalls were too suspenseful, but other than a few botches from the top rope, this lived up to the hype. Having Mauro Ranallo on commentary only added to it and I'd love if IMPACT or AEW were able to work something out where he can call some pay-per-view main events for them in the future. Omega is now the new Impact World Champion, but it remains to be seen how much he'll be on the weekly show going forward and who will ultimately be the one to dethrone him. My money is on Moose, but not before Omega drops the AEW title to Adam Page.

Overall Show

Anyone who reads my IMPACT reviews knows that I say this a lot, but it's true: IMPACT is one of the most consistent products out there today, along with Ring of Honor. There may not have a ton of buzz around them right now (though I hope that changes a bit with Omega as the champ), but I've been entertained by most of their shows in the last year and this was no exception. The main event was obviously the most must-see match on the show, but the rest of the card was above-average without a bad bout in sight. Props to IMPACT for not only introducing a few faces (Morrissey and Wilde) but also teasing that Slammiversary for the second straight year will feature recently released WWE talent. I'd suggest giving IMPACT a chance and checking out this pay-per-view. They deserve props for getting back on track and giving fans content they (hopefully) won't be disappointed by.