IMPACT! Wrestling Review - August 24, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Bully Ray Interrupted PCO Wreaking Havoc

The episode opened with PCO taking out a bunch of people at ringside in what was an extension of a segment that started on the Before The Impact pre-show. Bully interrupted him on the big screen and PCO went to the back to find him. It was a fairly simple segment that led to a show-long storyline, so it served its purpose. IMPACT do this sort of stuff often, so I thought it was an effective way of giving the show more of a chaotic feel than usual.

Impact Knockouts Champion Trinity def. Jody Threat (Non-Title)

Threat was in a similar spot right before Slammiversary where she challenged Deonna Purrazzo for the Impact Knockouts World Championship. This wasn't for the title, but it was equally predictable. Despite that, I thought they had a quality contest. Threat still needs more character development, but she's holding her own in these bigger matches and looking good in defeat. More challengers will need to be built up for after Emergence so it's not just Trinity and Purrazzo in the title picture.

Deaner def. Laredo Kid

Lardeo is obviously talented, but this was all about giving Deaner a victory to boost his credibility ahead of his upcoming clash with Eric Young at Emergence. It was a pretty basic bout and ended rather quickly, but there was no reason for it to be more competitive than it was. Deaner announced that his matchup with Young at Emergence will be No Disqualification. Hopefully that'll be the payoff to the program so Young can move on.

ABC def. The Good Hands

Good Hands prevented ABC from advancing to the finals of that recent Impact World Tag Team Championship number one contender’s tournament, so ABC were able to exact some revenge here. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary about this, but it was a nice little sprint, if nothing else. ABC vs. The Rascalz is inevitable and it just may be for the tag titles if The Rascalz can win them at Emergence.

Chris Sabin def. Samuray del Sol

Sabin is headed for a rematch with Lio Rush for the Impact X-Division Championship, so it was logical to give him a momentum boost before then. It won’t be taking place at Emergence as both men will be taking part in that eight-man tag team match. Nonetheless, this was an enjoyable outing. Samuray’s an excellent talent and I’d be down for him getting more opportunities in IMPACT. He feels like a perfect fit in the X-Division.

Impact World Champion Alex Shelley def. Brian Myers

Due to the aforementioned eight-man tag team match at Emergence that Shelley will also be taking part in, there will be no Impact World Championship defense on the show, which is why I appreciated getting one here. Of course, Myers had no chance of taking the title, but they had a very well-wrestled main event and it’s cool whenever he gets a chance to show what he can do. The post-match brawl effectively hyped the eight-man tag team matchup for Sunday night.

Overall Show

IMPACT just had their co-produced Multiverse United II event with New Japan Pro-Wrestling last weekend and it was hardly acknowledged on this show, if at all. Despite that, IMPACT has done a commendable job of building toward Emergence and this was a successful go-home show. We got some top-notch action on this episode and the Impact World Championship main event was a welcome treat. I’m digging a lot of what IMPACT is doing right now and it’s led to consistent quality among these shows.

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