IMPACT! Wrestling Review - August 26, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Chris Sabin def. Sami Callihan

Sabin and Callihan have been interacting quite a bit lately between being partners and facing off in that four-way at Emergence, so it was cool to see them go one-on-one here and have an enjoyable opener. Sabin is great and Callihan can go as well. Callihan picking up the victory was definitely a shocker, but he should be protected more than Callihan if he's going to have a rubber match with Moose soon. Speaking of whom, he attacked Sabin afterward before Eddie Edwards made the save.

Melina Saved Mickie James From Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo

I know Melina isn't the wrestler she once was, but I'm still looking forward to her challenging Purrazzo at Emergence at NWA EmPowerrr this weekend. The build has been well done in recent weeks and keeping James involved has been smart, hopefully planting the seeds for a future Purrazzo vs. James match. This was a fairly straightforward segment that served as effective last-minute hype for EmPowerrr.

Chris Bey def. David Finlay

Jay White recently beat Finlay at New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Resurgence event to retain the NEVER Openweight Championship. White was nowhere to be seen here, but Bey officially has a Bullet Club-esque entrance. He's a blast to watch in the ring and he had a nice match with Finlay here. Bey winning was the right outcome to keep his momentum rolling. I'm curious where he goes next and who he'll feud with from here.

Tommy Dreamer and Ace Austin Confronted Impact World Champion Christian Cage

Kenny Omega didn't do much to improve the weekly ratings for IMPACT! Wrestling and I doubt Christian will either, but it's still cool to have him on the show working with all of the younger guys. Of course, I say "younger" and yet Dreamer was the first person to interrupt him. They have history dating back to their time on WWE ECW in 2009 where they traded the ECW Championship back and forth, but I could do without them rekindling that rivalry in 2021. I will say, though, this was a solid segment as it did a nice job of teasing the possibility of Dreamer being inserted into Christian vs. Austin at Victory Road. If Dreamer can beat Austin next week, he will be.

The Influence (Tenille Dashwood, Madison Rayne and Kaleb with a K def. Taylor Wilde) in a 3-on-1 Handicap Match

I have no idea why Wilde would agree to face the entire Influence in a three-on-one Handicap match. The outcome was never in doubt, but it was fine while it lasted with Wilde putting up a fight before eating defeat. Jordynne Grace and Rachael Ellering made the save afterward, so it looks like we got a six-person tag team match coming up one of these weeks.

Rich Swann and Willie Mack def. Impact World Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers (Non-Title)

Good Brothers matches tend to be hit or miss at this point, but this was a well-worked main event, which shouldn't have been much of a surprise given who their opponents were. I'm sure they could do better, but this was entertaining enough and I assume that was the point if they're building to a championship rematch. Good Brothers kept their heat by laying them out afterward, so I expect the tag title rematch to be saved for Victory Road.

Overall Show

Props to IMPACT for furthering so much stuff at once. They're helping New Japan promote their shows, build toward a match at NWA EmPowerrr this weekend, and featuring a top talent from AEW as their world champion. On top of all that, we have Victory Road next month followed by Bound for Glory in October. There's plenty of compelling and enjoyable stuff going on at the moment and the weekly shows remain a breeze to watch. This wasn't the most exciting episode lately, but there was successful storyline progression and the wrestling was decent on the whole.

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