IMPACT! Wrestling Review - June 22, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Brian Myers and The Good Hands def. oVe (Sami Callihan, Jake Crist and Madman Fulton)

oVe were over in front of this Ohio crowd. I don't know if they're around for the long haul or just this set of tapings, but it's cool to see them as babyfaces for the first time. This was a nicely-paced opener. Myers and Moose teased an alliance last week, so Moose costing oVe the win furthered that. I'm curious to see if Callihan will have issues with Moose and Myers coming out of this or if this was just to give Myers a needed win.

Dirty Dango def. Bhupinder Gujjar

Dango's been heel for long enough that there's no excuse for why he hasn't changed his name or gone by his real name. It wouldn't make a major difference, but it just makes sense as part of his character evolution. Gujjar has long felt like a stepping stone, so it's hard to be impressed by his performances at this point. This was fine and existed to give Dango a win before his inevitable match with Santino Marella, who laid him out with his signature Cobra afterward.

"Speedball" Mike Bailey and Jonathan Gresham def. The Design (Angels and Kon)

As we found out in the next match, IMPACT loves taking rivals and turning them into tag team partners. That felt like the theme of this show as it happened here with Bailey and Gresham. In their defense, they always showed respect toward each other, so I can't complain, not to mention they have great chemistry as partners. This was fun for what it was, even though the focus was primarily on the tension being teased within The Design.

Killer Kelly def. Impact Knockouts World Tag Team Champion Taylor Wilde

You had to know where this was going as soon as it was made clear that Kelly was outnumbered, because what would have been the point of this otherwise? Kelly and Wilde had a very good match in the time they were allotted. Kelly winning in non-decisive fashion led to The Coven attacking her afterward followed by Masha Slamovich making the save. It's exactly what I predicted would happen after Slamovich beat Kelly at Against All Odds because, well, I don't know what else they would do and The Coven need new opponents.

Impact Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry def. Yuya Uemura

Uemura is a skilled competitor, but it was pretty obvious once Kenny King walked down the ramp and joined the announce booth that Uemura wasn't winning the title here. I mean, it was already pretty obvious to begin with because I can't remember the last time Uemura won anything important and thus there was no suspense surrounding the outcome, but at least it was a well-wrestled match while it lasted. King is a logical next challenger for Hendry.

Steve Maclin and Bully Ray def. Frankie Kazarian and Bully Ray

Maclin and Bully are the ones teaming up at Slammiversary, not Edwards and Kazarian, so it made sense for the heels to go over. Plus, Kazarian and Edwards were feuding up until a week or two ago when Edwards randomly wanted to be partners with Kazarian, so him "accidentally" hitting Kazarian right before the finish wasn't entirely surprising. This was a quality main event with the expected solid work from all involved.

Overall Show

Sorry to come off like a broken record throughout the review, but every single match played out predictably and felt formulaic. There wasn't anything that left me scratching my head and I appreciate that, but it was also far from the most exciting episode in recent memory. There wasn't much follow-up on Nick Aldis' heel turn from last week, but we'll apparently have him and Alex Shelley interacting in the ring next week. This was a serviceable show that moved stuff forward, but it isn't worth sitting through as nothing stood out.

SEE MORE: IMPACT Reviews