IMPACT! Wrestling Review - December 3, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Brian Cage vs. Eddie Edwards Ended in a No Contest; Michael Elgin def. Edwards and Cage in a Three-Way Match

I could be wrong, but I don't think Cage and Edwards have ever faced off one-on-one before in IMPACT prior to this, which is crazy when you consider Cage has been with the company for almost two years now. Nevertheless, they had a solid opening match before Elgin crashed the party and caused it to turn into a three-way. It was even better with all of them involved as the action was entertaining and they had terrific chemistry together. This gave the show a strong first half hour.

ODB Attacked Impact Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie

This episode was billed as ODB Appreciation Night, as her food truck burned down not too long ago and this was supposed to serve as an advertisement for the fundraiser for it to be rebuilt. ODB was never my favorite Knockout, but she was always a guilty pleasure and can be fun in small doses. I thought she and Valkyrie had a super solid segment here that served to set up their match in the main event later on in the night. Both of them played their roles remarkably well, especially Valkyrie.

Impact X-Division Champion Ace Austin and Reno Scum def. The Rascalz

Trey and Austin have been at odds lately with Austin targeting Trey's "mom," who continues to show up at ringside for Trey's matches. I'm not high on how their feud is focused on that and not the X-Division Championship, but at least the matches so far have been decent. Granted, this wasn't anything overly special, but at least their progressed their rivalry and the heels scored an important win.

Rob Van Dam and Rhyno Brawled

This marked RVD's first appearance on IMPACT! Wrestling since he turned heel at Bound for Glory two months ago. He's been advertised for the show a few times, but he always backed out. Now he's coming to the ring with his real-life girlfriend Katie Forbes and is going all out with the new self-centered gimmick. It's a breath of fresh air for him and I thought he came off great here. Tommy Dreamer tried to get through to him but failed. That brought out Rhyno, who RVD betrayed at Bound for Glory. The idea of them feuding does nothing for me, but it is a logical first feud for heel RVD. Here's hoping it doesn't extend beyond one match.

Petey Williams def. Johnny Swinger

I figured we might see Swinger get squashed by Ken Shamrock after what we saw with them two weeks ago, but thankfully not. Instead, Swinger took on Williams, which honestly wasn't much better. Williams is an awesome asset to their roster, even in 2019, but this was total throwaway and accomplished nothing. I'm happy Williams won, but there was no reason for this to exist in the first place.

ODB def. Impact Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie

As previously mentioned, I enjoyed their back-and-forth earlier in the evening, but this was far from main event material. They were given an ample amount of time, but it never reached that next gear and felt uneventful. You get what you get with an ODB match, but Valkyrie's TV matches have left a lot to be desired in recent months. I also didn't care for ODB winning ahead of Valkyrie's title defense against Jordynne Grace at Hard to Kill next month. It was a nice moment for ODB that unfortunately made Valkyrie look weak.

Overall Show

I loved what they did to start off the show with Cage, Edwards and Elgin, but nothing that followed came close to topping it. It was cool to see ODB again, but she and Valkyrie should not have main evented if the match was going to be as mediocre as it was. Furthermore, the stuff with Swinger and Williams was whatever, but at least RVD's heel promo was a highlight. Next week's show will feature Tessa Blanchard vs. Madman Fulton as well as Sami Callihan vs. Ken Shamrock.