IMPACT! Wrestling Review - July 20, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Scott D'Amore Addressed the Audience; Sami Callihan and Rich Swann def. The Good Hands

D'Amore spoke briefly about his successful return to the ring in his home country of Canada at Slammiversary before being confronted by Good Hands, which led to them being booked against Callihan and Swann. Obviously, the outcome was never in doubt, but it worked as a quick and straightforward squash for Callihan and Swann, who look to work their way back toward Impact World Tag Team Championship contention.

Jake Something def. Kevin Knight

I thought Something's return at Slammiversary may have just been a one-off, but between the pre-match video package and his win here, it looks like he is indeed back in IMPACT. I felt they dropped the ball on him last time and I'm glad he's getting another chance (though I'm shocked he wasn't snatched up by another company). This was a really good match with Knight again looking credible in defeat.

Courtney Rush def. Savannah Evans

Death Dollz and Jody Threat will continue to feud with Evans, Gisele Shaw and Jai Vidal it seems. Not the most exciting feud, but hey, it keeps them all busy, I suppose. Plus, it's not over the Impact Knockouts World Tag Team Championship, so I appreciate the attempt to add depth to the division. As for this match, it was okay, but it wasn't given enough time to be anything out of the ordinary.

Dirty Dango def. Santino Marella

I could've sworn this was originally scheduled for Slammiversary, but apparently not. It actually worked better as a match on IMPACT! Wrestling as opposed to pay-per-view, so I'm not complaining. I felt like I was watching an episode of WWE Superstars from 10 years ago. In all seriousness, they had a solid match, and Marella looked fine for a guy who doesn't wrestle regularly anymore. Dango winning with help from John E. Bravo keeps the rivalry going.

Impact World Tag Team Champions Subculture (Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster) def. ABC

This was a rematch from May's Under Siege event where ABC beat Subculture to retain the titles. They once again had a highly entertaining affair with excellent action. I'm not a big fan of Subculture winning off interference seeing as how they're babyfaces, but The Rascalz costing them the titles made sense to further their feud. I like The Rascalz vs. ABC being a non-title feud and The Rascalz moving on to the tag titles after it's over.

Bully Ray, Moose and Brian Myers Attacked Impact World Champion Alex Shelley, Josh Alexander and Kushida

This segment turned into way more than what I was anticipating. With it being a revolving door of promos (which is what we see a lot of in WWE), it felt like an opening segment instead of a closing segment, but they did set a lot of stuff up. For started, Alexander announced he's "100 percent cleared," so that's excellent news. He and Shelley will have their rematch at some point, but in the meantime, they have common enemies in Bully, Moose and Myers. Lio Rush also announced his intentions to cash in the Impact X-Division Championship for Option C, but only after he defends against number one Kushida first. The execution of the segment was a bit chaotic, but I like that there are a lot of different directions they can go in.

Overall Show

Slammiversay was quite the newsworthy pay-per-view and this was an effective follow-up show. As noted, the main event segment creates many possibilities for where IMPACT can go in the coming months. We also got an above-average tag title match and Something's return to singles competition. The rest of the show featured straightforward stuff and was enjoyable. I believe Multiverse United II is the next event on the calendar, but I'm not sure how storyline significant it will be given the crossover with New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

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