IMPACT! Wrestling Review - April 29, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Scott D'Amore Announced an Impact World Championship No. 1 Contender's Six-Way Match at Under Siege

A Kenny Omega in-ring championship celebration was advertised for this episode, but since he didn't show up initially, D'Amore said he had until the end of the night to appear or he'd be stripped of his newly-won Impact World Championship. That was an effective hook for the rest of the show, along with D'Amore announcing qualifying matches for this week and next week with the winners advancing to the number one contender's six-way main event at Under Siege in two weeks. The segue into Chris Bey's return against Jake Something was also seamless.

Chris Bey def. Jake Something to Qualify for the Impact World Championship No. 1 Contender's Six-Way Match at Under Siege

Honestly, I had no idea Bey was even gone. That's not a knock on Bey, who I'm a big fan of, but the X-Division has been doing so well lately with who they have that I didn't even notice he was absent for almost two months. Nonetheless, this was a very good match. Jake loses far more often than he should, but at least he had an out for losing with Rohit Raju costing him the win from ringside.

W. Morrissey def. Sam Beale

I've been a doubter before as far as not wanting to see the former Big Cass in any company because of what was going on with him a few years ago (not to mention that his in-ring work was always questionable), but I'm willing to give him another chance. He's come across well in recent interviews I've seen him in and he's clearly in fantastic physical shape. This squash was exactly what it needed to be: short, sweet and straight to the point. If Morrissey can stay the course, he could prove to be a nice pickup for IMPACT.

Taylor Wilde def. Kimber Lee

Wilde has been gone from IMPACT since 2010. She was there when I first started watching TNA in the summer of 2008, so I'm thrilled she's back. The Knockouts division is killing it right now and she doesn't feel out of place whatsoever. In fact, her return should be welcomed considering Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo needs some fresh faces to challenge her. This served as a successful showcase for Wilde, who didn't seem to show signs of ring rust at all. Havok approached Purrazzo afterward, so I can see that being the Under Siege match while Wilde is saved for a bigger event such as Slammiversary.

Impact X-Division Champion Josh Alexander def. Ace Austin

Alexander captured the Impact X-Division Championship by pinning former champ Austin in a three-way at Sunday's Rebellion pay-per-view. These two have shown over the last month that they work wonderfully together, so unsurprisingly, this was another very enjoyable affair from them. It had a great pace, they had me engaged throughout, and Alexander winning clean to retain the title was the right call. As I said coming out of Rebellion, there's a lot of potential there for Alexander to have a hell of a reign if he can keep having bangers like this one.

Matt Cardona def. Brian Myers to Qualify for the Impact World Championship No. 1 Contender's Six-Way Match at Under Siege

This was a rematch from Rebellion. In that match, Cardona suffered an "injury" that allowed Myers to capitalize and pick up the win. Myers focused on that injured knee here, which made for a good story. Cardona was ultimately able to overcome and avenge the loss. Although there wasn't anything too remarkable about this matchup, the work was simple and solid and served to get Cardona in the Under Siege main event. I never thought I'd ever a Cardona vs. Omega match, but that could now be a possibility.

Sami Callihan def. Eddie Edwards by Disqualification to Qualify for the Impact World Championship No. 1 Contender's Six-Way Match at Under Siege

These two have had so many matches against each other over the years that I'm sure they could have a good match in their sleep. Unfortunately, this was one of their weaker encounters due to the fact they weren't given a lot of time. What we got from them was solid, but the real focus was on Omega and The Good Brothers showing up and cleaning house. They also took out FinJuice, which sets up The Elite vs. Edwards and FinJuice for Under Siege. I can see why viewers would be disappointed that Omega was only there for a minute or two, but I assume we'll be getting more of him in the weeks to come, so I didn't find it to be too big of a deal.

Overall Show

This was one of my favorite/strongest editions of IMPACT! Wrestling in years, and that's saying something with the consistently quality contest IMPACT has been putting out for the last year or two. It was imperative that they followed up the hot Rebellion pay-per-view the right way and they did just that. No filler, all killer. IMPACT wasted no time in announcing the Under Siege main event, we got three well-wrestled qualifying matches, Morrissey and Wilde were properly (re)introduced, we were treated to a terrific X-Division title match, and Omega appeared at the very end to set up another Under Siege main event. Seriously, this was an awesome effort by IMPACT. The two hours were outstanding from start to finish.