IMPACT! Wrestling Review - July 27, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Impact Knockouts World Champion Trinity and Dani Luna def. The Coven

I must have missed something because I have absolutely no idea why this match happened. Trinity and Luna have never been aligned to my knowledge and Trinity hasn't had an issue with The Coven in at least a month or two. Trinity cutting a promo about her title win would have been more effective. It was a well-worked opener, though. Deonna Purrazzo came out afterward to inform Trinity that she'll be invoking her rematch clause for the championship at Emergence.

Johnny Swinger def. Zicky Dice in a Loser Leaves IMPACT Match

It was reported post-Slammiversary that Dice's IMPACT contract had expired, but I'm not sure if the company chose not to renew it or if that was Dice's choice. Either way, I'm bummed to see him go. He was always an undercard act, but it was nice seeing him a bigger platform than the NWA and I don't know where goes from here. This match was the sort of silliness you'd expect from these two and it didn't overstay its welcome. Swinger looks to be on his own again going forward. What more can IMPACT do with the guy at this point?

Gisele Shaw def. Impact Knockouts World Tag Team Champion Masha Slamovich

Slamovich and Killer Kelly are apparently now going by the team name of MK Ultra. Not a bad name if we're being honest. They confronted Shaw and Savannah Evans backstage last week, so that's the next feud for the Impact Knockouts World Tag Team Championship. The matches setting this stuff up with one tag wrestler beating another tag wrestler is so basic and formulaic, but at least the match was solid. Shaw has lost a lot lately, so I didn't have an issue with her beating Slamovich here.

The Time Splitters def. Brian Myers and Moose

Man, I absolutely love The Time Splitters. Alex Shelley and Kushida are such a terrific team and I couldn't believe it when the commentators mentioned that they had to team up in IMPACT (I guess it was just in six-man tag team action). They don't have any established issues with Myers and Moose, so I assume this was designed to be a warm-up for them before they face their actual rivals. This was a good match up until the abrupt finish, which I'm guessing was a botch based on everyone's reactions and how rushed the post-match angle was. Bully Ray and Lio Rush joined in on the beatdown on the babyfaces before Chris Sabin jumped in, so a Time Machine six-man tag team match is obviously inevitable.

Zachary Wentz def. "Speedball" Mike Bailey

Bailey isn't involved in anything of note right now and thus he was a perfectly fine person for Wentz to beat. He has credibility and they had strong chemistry together, making for a fun match. As I've said before, I'm really digging The Rascalz as heels. They had no interaction with ABC on this show, which was weird because they cost them their Impact World Tag Team Championship rematch on last week's show.

Eric Young def. Nick Aldis

Young's new entrance music sounds badass. To think he beat Aldis for the Impact World Championship (f.k.a. the TNA World Heavyweight Championship) almost a decade ago makes me feel old. It was reported right after Slammiversary two weeks ago that Aldis had wrapped up his run with IMPACT, so there was zero question he was losing here. They had the quality main event you'd expect from them. The Design (or what's left of it) attacked Young afterward and that was logical given Deaner basically attempted to murder Young late last year.

Overall Show

I quite enjoyed this edition of IMPACT! Wrestling. Aldis and Dice were officially written off, so that was significant. I liked Wentz vs. Bailey and Time Splitters vs. Moose and Myers (for as long as it lasted, anyway) and we got setup for Emergence as well. They seemingly took a simple approach to the episode and it paid off. Emergence, Multiverse United and No Surrender all happening within a few weeks of each other isn't ideal, but hopefully IMPACT can make it work.

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