IMPACT! Wrestling Review - April 6, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions The Motor City Machine Guns def. TMDK (Shane Haste and Bad Dude Tito)

This was the third match TMDK have had in IMPACT in the last few weeks as well as their third straight loss. They're a talented team, but IMPACT viewers have no reason to take them seriously at this point. I assume this was their swan song from IMPACT for now. At the very least, this was the enjoyable outing you'd expect from these two teams. Afterward backstage, Motor City Machine Guns challenged Chris Bey and Austin Ace to an Ultimate X match for the Impact World Tag Team Championship at Rebellion, so that should be awesome.

"Speedball" Mike Bailey vs. Jonathan Gresham in an Impact X-Division Championship No. 1 Contender's Match Ended in a No Contest

Trey Miguel mentioned on commentary that he handed Bailey's first loss in IMPACT. Plus, Miguel's last loss came at the hands of Bailey back in July, so Bailey vs. Miguel one-on-one at Rebellion would have made a lot of sense. That said, I have no issue with this trilogy between Bailey and Gresham ending indecisively to set up a three-way for the X-Division title. This was yet another excellent encounter from these two and you'll get no complaints out of me about adding Miguel to the mix.

Jody Threat def. Tara Rising

I don't know if Tara Rising is her actual ring name or not, but it's an obvious homage to Triple H's old ring name in WCW. I believe Threat is a Canadian talent, so debuting her in home country was smart, but nothing about this debut was impressive. She was perfectly average, but that's about it. The fact we know nothing about her didn't help, either. Maybe she'll get better in time, but I have no idea why she received the vignette treatment for several weeks if this was what we going to get.

Tommy Dreamer, Yuya Uemura and Darren McCarty def. Bully Ray and The Good Hands

Apparently McCarty is a former NHL player, so someone who isn't a hockey fan, I didn't care about this at all. It doesn't help that the storyline with Dreamer and Bully has been going on for what feels like forever and this didn't provide any meaningful progression of the storyline. The best thing I can say about it is that it was harmless and didn't last longer than it needed to. Can we blow off this Dreamer vs. Bully feud already?​

Eddie Edwards def. PCO

I'm surprised the first real match between these two was given away on IMPACT! Wrestling and not promoted as the main event, but the last segment surrounding the Impact World Championship had to close the show this week. It also looks like a rematch will be in order, likely with some sort of stipulation. This was your typical PCO match, but the crowd was into it because he's such a fan favorite and they put forth a good effort.

Josh Alexander Relinquished the Impact World Championship

Scott D'Amore, Kushida and Steve Maclin were also present in the ring. Having Alexander's family there for this made the moment all the more gut-wrenching because you could tell how much his title reign meant to his entire family. This was very well done, and I appreciated Maclin and Kushida being there and Maclin speaking briefly to hype the new main event for Rebellion. All signs to Maclin becoming champion and Alexander challenging him when he's ready to return eventually.

Overall Show

The build to Rebellion has been all over the place due to Sacrifice and Multiverse United just happening and Alexander's injury forcing a change in the main event. The card is coming together just fine, and I'm especially excited for the Impact World Tag Team Championship and the Impact X-Division Championship matches. Threat's in-ring debut fell flat for me and the six-man tag team match was whatever, but it was a thumbs-up episode otherwise.

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