IMPACT! Wrestling Review - July 15, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jordynne Grace and Rachel Ellering def. Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb with a K

Grace and Ellering have had their issues with Dashwood for over a month. One thing IMPACT does better than almost any other company is intergender wrestling. In my opinion, they'll only do it when it makes sense. Kaleb with a K has been booked like a joke since he's been aligned with Dashwood, so I had no problem with Grace and Ellering being competitive with him. This was an enjoyable opener with a slightly surprising finish. I figured the heels would win and Grace would finally turn on Ellering, but no such luck.

Havok def. Impact Knockouts Tag Team Champion Tasha Steelz

I've never been the biggest fan of Havok's matches, but this worked nicely with the size dynamic and Steelz avoiding taking any offense from Havok. Despite that, Havok dominated a majority of the match and was able to secure the victory. Rosemary and Havok have gotten the better of Fire 'N Flava at almost every turn in recent weeks, which makes me think we aren't getting new Impact Knockouts Tag Team Champions on Saturday. I'd actually prefer that, especially if The IIconics are on their way in. They should be the ones to take the titles from Fire 'N Flava.

Maclin def. Kal Herro

Maclin keeps destroying his opponents left and right. The commentators mentioned a few times that we know nothing about him, so the mystery surrounding his character is obviously intentional. He lets his aggression in the ring do the talking for him and he's been physically impressive thus far. Post-match, he spoke for the first time and said he was done waiting, basically implying that he's going to take matters into his own hands. Who will be his first rival?

Impact X-Division Champion Josh Alexander, Chris Bey, Trey Miguel and Petey Williams def. Rohit Raju, Shera, Ace Austin and Madman Fulton

The heels formed a mini faction a few weeks ago and I don't think they're going to last. They didn't crumble here, but Bey did turn his back on the babyfaces as quickly as he joined them. This wasn't as fast-paced or as exciting as other X-Division matches we've seen in recent months, probably because Shera and Fulton were involved, but it was still pretty good. I like how I have no idea who will win the Ultimate X match.

Brian Myers, Sam Beale and Tenille Dashwood Attacked Matt Cardona and Jake Something

Myers attempted to convince Hernandez to be his backup against Cardona, but Hernandez declined because he hangs with Johnny Swinger now. After Cardona came back last week, I assumed we were getting Myers and Beale against Cardona and Something. I'm happy that isn't the case because that felt like a match you'd see on any ordinary episode of IMPACT! Wrestling. Instead, it will be Myers and Dashwood (who dated Cardona years ago) against Cardona and a mystery partner. I know Chelsea Green recently announced she signed with Ring of Honor, but surely she can make a one-off return to IMPACT before she wrestles in their women's title tournament, right? Most people probably either don't remember or just don't know that Cardona and Dashwood have history (or don't care), but it's a logical story to tell with Cardona's past coming back to haunt him.

Moose def. Hernandez

I was expecting a hoss fight between two of the bigger guys in IMPACT, but this didn't last long at all. Then again, considering Hernandez has basically been an enhancement guy for the last year and Moose has been dominant lately, it was probably for the best to keep this short and sweet with Moose going over in decisive fashion. Chris Sabin made the save afterward ahead of his match with Moose at Slammiversary.

Impact World Tag Team Champion Joe Doering def. Fallah Bahh, Willie Mack and Doc Gallows in a Four-Way Match

These were all the "big guys" of their respective teams, so while it wasn't the flashiest encounter, they filled the time well and there was no reason for this to go any longer than it did. It was definitely slow and plodding at points, but I thought they kept the pace moving as well as they could. Doering winning and giving Violent By Design the momentum boost going into Slammiversary was the right call, but whether they'll retain the tag titles at the pay-per-view is the question.

Overall Show

With Slammiversary coming up on Saturday, this show did as effective of a job as it could have of selling viewers on the pay-per-view if they weren't already excited for it. There wasn't anything overly exciting about the episode, but I don't think there needed to be. Kenny Omega and Sami Callihan had their final interaction last week, so they didn't appear on this show and a video package hyped up their main event instead. There's nothing from this episode I'd recommend you go out of your way to see, but I appreciated the last-minute teases of surprises on Saturday night and putting the finishing touches on the card. I expect Slammiversary to be solid, but getting the fans back should be the best part about it.

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