IMPACT! Wrestling Review - June 8, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Impact World Tag Team Champion Chris Bey def. Jason Hotch

A B C were feuding with The Good Hands prior to Under Siege, so it makes sense for that rivalry to resume heading into Against All Odds. I don't view Good Hands as threats to the tag titles whatsoever, but I appreciate the attempt and that they're getting a chance at least. Hotch is, well, a good hand, and Bey's skills are well documented, so this was a quality contest. Bey picked up the win, but Good Hands and Brian Myers stood tall afterward.

Heath def. Champagne Singh

Heath and Rhino beat Singh and Shera back at Rebellion and were involved in a six-man tag team match soon after. Personally, I don't care about the duo of Singh and Shera, but I suppose they're a fine pair of heel jobbers to have on the roster. Heath is a higher priority and thus him winning here made sense. This was short and sweet, but I don't know what purpose it was supposed to serve right before Against All Odds.

Impact Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry def. Sheldon Jean (Non-Title)

Didn't Hendry defend the Impact Digital Media Championship against Jean not too long ago? This was fairly basic as well despite getting some time. Jean is competent in the ring, but he hasn't stood out at all yet. The focus was on the aftermath with Hendry taunting Dirty Dango with a new song about him before their championship clash at Against All Odds and Santino Marella making the save for Hendry when Dango, Jean and Kenny King went after him.

Impact Knockouts World Tag Team Champions The Coven def. The Death Dollz

It was Courtney Rush and Jessicka Havok going for the tag titles this time instead of Rush's alter-ego Rosemary. It didn't make the match any more interesting, but it was well worked while it lasted. The Coven are still relatively early in their run and shouldn't have lost. The match was okay, but where does the division go from here? I don't know what other opponents are waiting in the wings to challenge The Coven and I have no desire to see this feud continue.

Impact X-Division Champion Trey Miguel def. Bhupinder Gujjar (Non-Title)

Miguel will defend his Impact X-Division Championship against Chris Sabin at Against All Odds in a rematch from Under Siege. This was designed as a warm-up for him before then and therefore didn't need to be anything special. I liked his post-match promo hyping up his match with Sabin and running down his list of accomplishments as X-Division champ. I've said this a lot, but he's really come into his own in the heel role.

Moose and Rich Swann def. Jonathan Gresham and Nick Aldis

This was meant to serve as a preview of the 8-4-1 match coming up at Against All Odds, where a number one contender to the Impact World Championship will be determined. Putting a face and a heel on the same team made for an interesting dynamic and they had fun with it, though it didn't really matter who won. Everyone in the 8-4-1 match emerged afterward to brawl to close out the show.

Overall Show

There was some solid stuff on this show and the main event in particular stood out. Everything else was average and didn't really move the needle in terms of generating excitement for Against All Odds despite the promising card on paper. Honestly, my favorite thing about this episode was nothing of what I wrote about above but rather the Alex Shelley video package. That was terrific and left me looking forward to him hopefully getting his moment (which I'm not expecting him to). This wasn't the strongest go-home show, but it did what it needed to do.

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