IMPACT! Wrestling Review - June 14, 2019

​By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The North def. Sabu and Rob Van Dam

I guess I just have to accept how basically every match these ECW legends have now is apparently No Disqualification, whether it's announced as such or not. Ugh. It makes their matches more bearable to an extent, but I'm not a huge fan of all the smoke and mirrors and it couldn't be more obvious that The North are carrying them through these matches. This was a decent tag team bout with the right result, building to RVD vs. Moose at Slammiversary.

Havok def. Masha Slamovic

Havok with James Mitchell seems like a fine fit on paper, so hopefully it works out. As I mentioned last week, I wasn't at all impressed with her last run in IMPACT five years ago, but at least she's already off to a solid start. She had a dominant showing here and annihilated her unknown opponent with ease. Mitchell's post-match promo established that she has her sights set on not only Rosemary but the Knockouts Championship as well.

Raj Singh def. Cody Deaner

I'm sorry but this Deaners vs. Desi Hit Squad feud is doing nothing for me. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be comedy or if they're supposed to be taken seriously, but either way, I couldn't care less about these matches. To their credit, they didn't have a terrible match and both men had decent showings, but there wasn't much to it. Unfortunately, Singh winning likely means this feud isn't over yet.

Madison Rayne def. Jordynne Grace

This was an excellent piece of business all around. Rayne and Grace are terrific talents and I was thrilled they were given the chance to go out there and rip it up. This was a really well-wrestled match, and even Kiera Hogan played her new heel role perfectly on commentary. She cost Grace the win by distracting her at ringside, so expect that to lead to another matchup between the two sometime soon.

Killer Kross def. The Sandman

Sandman interfered in that Street Fight Kross had with Eddie Edwards two weeks ago, so Kross squashing Sandman within a minute was absolutely for the best. I had no desire to see Sandman work a full-length match, so Kross forcing him to pass out so quickly spared us of that and gave Kross a decisive victory over an ECW icon. More importantly, the post-match angle with Edwards and Kross effectively furthered their feud.

Michael Elgin def. Willie Mack

The main event match Elgin had with Rich Swann last month was fantastic, and although this never quite reached that same level, it was still great stuff. They worked a fun pace and I appreciated the nonstop action. I don't believe Mack is currently advertised for Slammiversary, so there was no harm in him losing here and the inadvertent interference from Swann protected him in defeat. Afterward, Elgin laid out everyone, including Johnny Impact. IMPACT has done a nice job of booking him as their top heel so far.

Overall Show

The two hours once again flew by for me, and aside from nonsense with the Deaners and Desi Hit Squad, this was a strong show on the whole. Mack vs. Elgin and Grace vs. Rayne were both entertaining, Havok's in-ring return and Kross vs. Sandman were exactly what they should have been, and the opener was serviceable. Props to IMPACT for building up a quality card for Slammiversary in recent weeks.