IMPACT! Wrestling Review - June 7, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Austin Ace def. Cousin Jake

This might have been the first time we've seen Jake in singles action since he made his IMPACT debut, so it was tough to take him seriously as a threat to Ace, who has been on the rise lately. From an in-ring standpoint, this was a well-wrestled opener that was probably the best choice to kick off the show with. Plus, it succeeded in furthering Ace's momentum, so I had no problem with this whatsoever.

Rosemary def. Impact Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie by Disqualification (Non-title)

These two feuded early last year and had some strong matches together. I'd be nice to see them eventually rekindle their rivalry over the Impact Knockouts Championship, but it looks like their focus will be on Su Yung and the returning Havok for the foreseeable future. The match never really got it started before Havok interfered and attacked both ladies. I wasn't at all impressed with her last run in the company, so here's hoping she's more motivated this time around to be better.

Madman Fulton def. Local Atheltes in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match

While I appreciate the aggressive push they're giving to Fulton and how he's been built up as a dominant badass so far, I can't say I find him to be terribly exciting. He's a fine heavy for oVe, but I have no desire to see him receive more focus than that. Sami Callihan wasted no time in taking a microphone after the extended squash to bring out the rest of oVe so their match with Fallah Bahh and Scarlett Bordeaux could begin.

oVe def. Fallah Bahh and Scarlett Bordeaux

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of intergender wrestling, especially in a case like this where it's completely unrealistic to think that Scarlett would be able to take on both members of oVe on her own at certain points. She performed well, but it took me out of the match a bit. This was decent otherwise and had a nice pace with the right team going over. Afterward, Tessa Blanchard took the fight to oVe, which I found a bit more believable because she's a legitimate badass. I guess she's exhausted all of her possible feuds with the women so now she's moving on to the men. Again, I'm skeptical, but we'll see where it goes.

Jordynne Grace def. Kiera Hogan

Hogan recently said that all of her friends in IMPACT abandoned her so she'll doing her own thing going forward. I guess that makes her a heel now? She certainly acted like one here and it made for an entertaining dynamic between them. Despite a valiant effort from Hogan, she ultimately came up short against Grace. I would totally be up for them having more matches because this was fun while it lasted.

Impact World Tag Team Champions LAX def. The Rascalz by Disqualification

LAX vs. The Rascalz is definitely the biggest feud that can be done over the Impact World Tag Team Championship at this point and I'm looking forward to it, especially if the rest of the rivalry will feature matches as exciting as this one. They definitely held back a bit, mind you, but it was still solid and gave viewers a small taste of what they're capable of against each other. The Rascalz almost won the titles toward the end, but the referee reversed the decision and awarded LAX the victory by disqualification because of how he was blinded with booze that he believed belonged to The Rascalz. I wasn't thrilled with the non-finish after already seeing one earlier, but it protected both tandems and kept their program alive.

Overall Show

Moose also officially challenged Rob Van Dam to a match at Slammiversary. The build to Slammiversary has been wisely excecuted so far with more matches being announced for the event by the week. The rest of this show was the usual quality stuff from IMPACT with the main event delivering and everything else mostly serving a purpose and holding my interest.