IMPACT! Wrestling Review - August 4, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Moose def. Heath

This was for Moose's (fake) TNA World Heavyweight Championship, and if Heath won, he would have been granted a contract in IMPACT. I'm sure he'll be back even though he lost here, but it's also possible he only wanted to make a few appearances in IMPACT before going/signing elsewhere. That said, this was a super solid opener. Heath had a better chance of beating Moose than almost anyone else in recent months, so that added to the suspense of some of the nearfalls down the stretch. Moose vs. EC3 is obviously the endgame based on the promo EC3 cut later in the night.

The North Interrupted Jimmy Jacobs' Interview with Impact World Tag Team Champions The Motor City Machine Guns

What we got from Motor City Machine Guns before The North interrupted was good and I'm glad they received some mic time so soon after returning to IMPACT. It's awesome that IMPACT has treated them like stars since Slammiversary and I'm excited for what they have in store as Impact World Tag Team Champions. The North and Motor City Machine Guns will collide in a championship rematch in two weeks at IMPACT Emergence.

Impact World Champion Eddie Edwards def. Sami Callihan

Edwards and Callihan have always had strong chemistry together dating back to when they first feuded two years ago and this was another quality contest from them. The only issue was that Rob Van Dam attacked Callihan beforehand, and while that made sense from a storyline standpoint after what Callihan did to Katie Forbes' photos last week, it made it obvious he wasn't winning here. It was also odd that the commentators didn't acknowledge the ambush after that and didn't mention how that was what factored into the finish. Putting that aside, this was an entertaining encounter.

TJP and Fallah Bahh def. Impact X-Division Champion Chris Bey and Rohit Raju

Is Raju to go-to partner for everyone who doesn't have one now? The guy can actually hold his own in the ring, but the problem is that he was such a non-factor in The Desi Hit Squad for so long that it's difficult to care about him on his own. On the bright side, this was a fun little match that as nicely paced and featured a somewhat surprising result. An Impact X-Division Championship shot is likely coming TJP's way and I'm glad because the match could be great.

Eric Young Attacked Rich Swann

I heavily doubt Swann is actually retiring, but he damn sure tried to make viewers believe he was. To his credit, he sounded very convincing and cut an excellent promo. I can understand the argument that it dragged on a little longer than it should have because Young attacking Swann was never in doubt, but this whole thing was very well done. I'm shocked I'm saying this, but I'm actually looking forward to an Eric Young feud for once, if only to see Swann work his babyface magic.

Overall Show

The Wrestle House stuff still does nothing for me, but I appreciated that it didn't take up as much television time this week. There were only three matches, but all of them served a purpose along with the talking segments. Everything was efficient and the two hours flew by as a result. I'm glad IMPACT is keeping the momentum rolling after their buzzworthy Slammiversary pay-per-view last month by producing shows that are worthwhile and are engaging.