IMPACT Throwback Throwdown IV Review - November 30, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Rapid Delivery Pete def. Kamikazi

Rich Swann as Rapid Delivery Pete is one of the best parts of these IPWF shows. It was funny when the commentators mentioned that the crowd only wanted him to win because they were promised free pizza if he did. He'd be the biggest babyface on the roster if that was legitimate, at least if I was in the audience. I don't know who portrayed Kamikazi because he was in a ninja outfit, but they had a well-wrestled opener with Pete's over-the-top antics making it more enjoyable.

The Masked Brother Attacked IPWF International Commonwealth Television Champion DJ 2Large

Moose coming out as DJ 2Large every year is hilarious because it's such a stark difference from his heel character in IMPACT. He hams it up and has the crowd behind him. His exchange with The $369,000 Man lasted a little long, but they kept it interesting. It led to The Masked Brother coming out to attack DJ 2Large and set up their match for the IPWF International Commonwealth Television Championship later in the show.

Frank the Butcher Sr. def. Neptune

Butcher had Giuseppe Scovelli Sr. in his corner and Neptune had Walter Chestnut in his. Rhino's Butcher gimmick is consistently a highlight on these shows (it's amazing that he's been doing the same character since Southpaw Regional Wrestling in WWE) while Shera did well as Neptune. It your basic hoss fight and was what it needed to be. The managers got into it with each other afterward.

The Sunday Morning Express def. The Hard Workers

Chris Sabin is great in his role as one-half of The Sunday Morning Express. Their tag finisher being called The Scoop is also hilarious. I couldn't identity Sabin's partner, though. Is that someone on the IMPACT roster? This was probably the best "wrestling" match on the show and they made the most of the time they had. Deaner and Jake Something reuniting for one night (albeit not under those names) was cool.

“Cowboy” Colt McCoy and Georgia Cobb def. Rip Rayzor and Rusty Iron

Was there a reason why McCoy (Eddie Edwards) didn't team with his wife Alisha? Cobb (Jordynne Grace) was an improvement of a partner, though. I know we've seen Rayzor (Ace Austin) and Iron (Gia Miller) together before on these shows, and maybe Miller has wrestled before, but she usually serves as a backstage interviewer for IMPACT and has never wrestled outside of these specials if I'm not mistaken. To her credit, she held her own in there and it was a passable mixed tag team match.

The Masked Brother def. DJ 2Large to Win the IPWF International Commonwealth Television Championship

Masked Brother had The $369,000 Man in his corner. I couldn't quite tell who was portraying Masked Brother when we saw him earlier in the show, but then I realized during his backstage promo that it was Frankie Kazarian. They had a pretty good match and 2Large attempted to overcome the interference, only to fall short. The "title change" was a shocker, but I appreciate the attempt to do something unpredictable (even if none of this actually matters, obviously).

Tim Burr def. Boris Alexiev to Win the Fall Maul Tournament

Alexiev was accompanied by Colonel Corn. This was the finals of a tournament we didn't see the rest of, but it did add some "stakes" to the match if the title change wasn't going to end the episode (and that make sense because they usually like to "send the crowd home happy" with a babyface winning  on these shows). It's not we get to see Santino Marella (Alexiev) in the ring these days, so while this was limited, it was a fun main event that didn't overstay its welcome. Marella basically doing his old tag team partner Vladimir Kozlov's WWE gimmick was a nice touch.

Overall Show

You always know what you're getting with these shows and they're fun for what they are. The big difference between this year and last year was that this wasn't a standalone special on Impact Plus. They aren't worth paying for in my opinion, but as a filler edition of IMPACT! Wrestling, it works. They advertised more matches for next week, but I assume this was a one-off and we'll get a regular show next week ahead of Final Resolution that Saturday. From there, I have to imagine they'll take the rest of the year off before the big TNA relaunch at Hard to Kill.

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