IMPACT! Wrestling Review - April 22, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Good Brothers def. Decay (Crazzy Steve and Black Taurus)

Good Brothers have been dominating Decay in recent weeks because FinJuice are over in Japan and won't be returning until Rebellion for their Impact World Tag Team Championship rematch. Viewers didn't have anyone to cheer for here, but the match itself was solid. Good Brothers cut a good, intense promo afterward promising to take the titles back on Sunday. I could certainly see a scenario where they and Kenny Omega leave the pay-per-view with the gold.

Tenille Dashwood def. Susan

This was the second straight heel vs. heel match of the night. However, it wasn't much of a match because it involved Susan, who is less of a wrestler and more of a character. The key here was giving Dashwood another win as she's been on a roll recently and has a shot at the Impact Knockouts Championship coming up at Rebellion. I don't think she'll capture the title, but I'm looking forward to her clash with Deonna Purrazzo because I don't think they've ever gone one-on-one before.

Shera def. Jake Something

As seen at Hardcore Justice, Shera and Rohit Raju have officially reunited and I'm not sure why. I guess it gives Raju something to do, but I enjoyed his work on his own, not to mention Shera isn't very good. He's been with IMPACT on and off for almost seven years and has hardly improved. Jake, on the other hand, has an incredible physique and potential and yet they haven't quite figured out what to do with him yet. The match was fine for what it was, but Jake lost in a matter of minutes. Couldn't Shera have beaten some other lower-level loser instead?

AEW World Champion Kenny Omega, Don Callis and Moose Interrupted Impact World Champion Rich Swann

Swann vs. Omega has by far been the best hyped match at Rebellion. Swann has been holding his own on the mic, and although Omega and Callis didn't show up in person here (which was smart because we already got that last week at the press conference), they cut excellent promos, too. We also got the return of Moose for the first time since Rebellion, who put both Swann and Omega on notice. I see Omega (obviously) taking both belts at Rebellion only to be dethroned by Moose at some point. That would seem to make the most sense.

Jordynne Grace def. Impact Knockouts Tag Team Champion Kiera Hogan by Disqualification

I was looking forward to this match because both of these ladies are very talented, not to mention that Dashwood vs. Susan earlier in the evening was extremely forgettable. Unfortunately, this was cut short as Tasha Steelz ran in for the disqualification almost as soon as it started. That was disappointing. On the bright side, we found out afterward who Grace's tag team partner will be at Rebellion and it isn't the returning Taylor Wilde as I thought it would be. Rather, it's Rachael Ellering. I didn't see much of her work in WWE, but she should be a nice addition to the Knockouts division following the departures of Taya Valkyrie, Jazz and Nevaeh.

Eric Young def. Eddie Edwards

Young announced a while ago that he had a torn ACL, so I'm surprised he's still wrestling. Tag team matches are one thing, but this was a one-on-one main event, and to his credit, he did damn well. These two have had a handful of quality matches since their world title feud last year and this was another enjoyable encounter with them. The heels have the heat going into the pay-per-view, which was the right call. The show-closing brawl between the two groups of four served as a good preview of what to expect in the upcoming eight-man tag team match.

Overall Show

The video packages throughout the show hyping up Swann vs. Omega were tremendously done. IMPACT has gone above and beyond as they should in making it feel like a big deal. Unfortunately, AEW dropped the ball by not doing the same. They've barely acknowledged it, meaning it couldn't be more apparent that Omega is winning Sunday. Oh well. The rest of this show was decent yet not IMPACT's strongest effort. Outside of the main event, the matches left a lot to be desired, but at least the card for Rebellion has a ton of promise on paper.