IMPACT Rebellion Review - April 28, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Ace Austin def. Petey Williams, Aiden Price, Cousin Jake, Jake Crist and Eddie Edwards in a Six-Man Scramble Match

This must have been announced hours before the show because I don't remember it being mentioned on Friday's go-home edition of IMPACT! Wrestling. Nothing was on the line, so it didn't really serve much of a purpose aside from killing time, but it was a ton of fun and kicked off the night on a high note. Edwards felt out of place here because he was the biggest star of the bunch (and likely would have faced Eli Drake on this show had Drake not gotten released from the company earlier this month), but at least he wasn't pinned. Speaking of which, I liked that Austin stole the victory from Williams considering they recently teased feuding.

Scarlett Bordeaux def. Rohit Raju

Although this was another last-minute addition to the card, it was perfectly serviceable for the time it was given. I'm not high on the intergender matches, but Desi Hit Squad are complete losers who lack steam and Bordeaux is better than I initially gave her credit for. I hope she'll start mixing it up with the other ladies soon, because I'm not sure how much she's actually benefiting from beating these guys.

Moose and The North def. The Rascalz

Reuniting with Josh Alexander was easily the best thing that could have happened to Ethan Page, because he was going nowhere fast in IMPACT on his own. They're a great tag team and had strong chemistry with The Rascalz with Moose. I'd be all for them chasing the Impact World Tag Team Championship eventually, and hopefully this alliance they have with Moose isn't long-term. This was an entertaining outing and I'd like to see more matches with The North and The Rascalz without Moose involved in the equation.

Impact Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie def. Jordynne Grace

While this wasn't the barn-burner I was hoping from these two, it was a quality contest with both women having solid showings. Despite a valiant effort, Grace failed to take the title (suffering her first one-on-one loss in IMPACT in the process), but at least she looked credit in defeat. Valkyrie won clean, so it's very possible they move on from this feud and find new challengers for Valkyrie, but I'd be more inclined to it continuing.

Impact X-Division Champion Rich Swann def. Sami Callihan in an oVe Rules Match

Swann and Callihan have done a fantastic job of building up their story and making it feel personal since it started several months ago. It helps that they work well together in the ring and this latest encounter of theirs was terrific. Of course, we still had the Full Metal Mayhem match later on in the show, but they wisely didn't do anything too crazy to take away from that. I totally forgot about the X-Division title being up for grabs, though. It'd be nice for that belt to receive more attention going forward if this rivalry has reached its end.

Tessa Blanchard def. Gail Kim

Kim hasn't wrestled since Bound for Glory 2017, so it was unknown how much ring rust she'd have on her. I thought she looked pretty damn good and held her own against Blanchard. I feared that her kicking out of Blanchard's finisher multiple times meant that she was winning, but thankfully, that was not the case and Blanchard instead went over in decisive fashion. Blanchard and Kim embracing each other afterward was a cool moment and made me wonder whether we're in for a Blanchard heel turn in the near future.

Brian Cage def. Johnny Impact to Win the Impact World Championship (Lance Storm Served as Special Guest Referee)

As expected, this was hindered by constant interference and overbooking. Yes, it fit the theme of the feud, but it was way too much of a mess to follow, especially during the closing stretch. Storm was a distraction as the special guest referee and Cage seemingly getting hurt at one point slowed down the pace. However, Cage finally capturing the championship was the right call and now he has his first challenger in the debuting Michael Elgin.

LAX def. The Lucha Brothers in a Full Metal Mayhem Match to Win the Impact World Tag Team Championship

IMPACT was smart to have this headline the event over the world title match, because this was absolutely insane. You couldn't have picked a better stipulation for their final face-off, either. It was evident that they wanted to go all out and produce something special and they were certainly successful. The high spots alone made this a spectacle, culminating what has been a stellar series of matches. Members of the roster coming out post-match to celebrate with LAX and The Lucha Brothers leads me to believe that this was the swan song of Pentagon Jr. and Fenix in IMPACT as they prepare to sign exclusive deals with All Elite Wrestling.

Overall Show

It's worth noting that it was revealed early on in the show that a new service called IMPACT Plus will be replacing Global Wrestling Network this coming Wednesday. There's no word on what will happen to existing GWN members (such as myself) and if their subscriptions will carry over. Here's hoping they air more original content on the service, such as pay-per-views, because if there's anything WWE does right, it's that. Paying nearly 50 bucks for a PPV like this is ridiculous. On the bright side, it was a very enjoyable event. The Lucha Brothers vs. LAX, Blanchard vs. Kim, and Swann vs. Callihan made this an above-average show for IMPACT. I could have done without the first two matches, mind you, but that's merely nitpicking. Now the key is for the company to carry this momentum into their upcoming television tapings.