IMPACT! Wrestling Review - June 1, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Motor City Machine Guns Confronted Impact World Champion Steve Maclin and Bully Ray

There were a lot of moving parts in this opening segment, and it reminded me of the type of segment you'd see on a WWE show following a pay-per-view. I don't say that as a bad thing, however. I loved the attention to detail with the history between Bully and Sabin being acknowledged and Alex Shelley bringing up Bully's submission loss to Josh Alexander earlier this year. Maclin and Bully refused to face Motor City Machine Guns in a tag match later in the show, so Subculture stepped up and accepted their challenge instead.

Eddie Edwards def. Yuya Uemura

Uemura never wins when it matters most and really hasn't had any direction since coming to IMPACT last year, so although the outcome was expected, at least he can always be counted on for a quality contest like we got here. I appreciated that it was competitive and Uemura was able to score some offense before losing. Kazarian and Edwards almost got into it afterward, so they're obviously on a collision course heading into Against All Odds.

Sami Callihan and Jake Crist def. Decay (Crazzy Steve and Black Taurus)

Crist returned as a mystery partner for Callihan and Rich Swann at Under Siege and it's cool to see him sticking around for the time being. I like Decay, but they're basically an enhancement team at this point. I was surprised how quickly this ended, but at least it was a straightforward win for Callihan and Crist. Post-match, Rich Swann made the save for them when The Design attempted to attack.

Trinity def. Savannah Evans

Trinity knocked off Gisele Shaw at Under Siege, so it only made sense for her to knock off Shaw's right-hand woman here. It wasn't as good of a match, but at least it didn't last too long and Trinity winning was the right call. Trinity proceeded to call out Deonna Purrazzo and their match for the Impact Knockouts World Championship was made official for Slammiversary. I'm glad they're giving it a bit of a build instead of rushing into it.

Jody Threat def. Dani Luna

Luna didn't do a ton in WWE NXT UK, but she was a solid worker and thus I'm glad she was in action on this show along with her Subculture stablemates. Since Threat is the one they're building up at the moment, I figured she would win, but they had a well-wrestled match and both women had nice showings. This was probably Threat's longest match in IMPACT yet, so hopefully this is a sign she'll start facing real competition going forward.

The Motor City Machine Guns def. Subculture (Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster)

There was nothing storyline significant about this main event, but I was totally fine with them having a banger without any outside interference from Maclin or Bully. Subculture had a great match with A B C at Under Siege and again shined here. They'd be a strong addition to the tag team division if IMPACT decides to sign them (and they should). This was super entertaining with the win further establishing Motor City Machine Guns as one of the best tag teams in the world still.

Overall Show

There's a really quick turnaround between Under Siege and Against All Odds, but most of the matches that are either confirmed for the upcoming event or were teased on this show are logical. This wasn't a newsworthy show by any means, but I loved the way it opened and closed and thought everything in the middle was serviceable. IMPACT has been doing a commendable job lately of producing enjoyable shows on a consistent basis.

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