IMPACT! Wrestling Review - May 19, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Ace Austin def. Rhino in an Impact World Championship No. 1 Contender's Tournament Quarterfinal Match

Austin replaced Ken Shamrock in the tournament due to the "injuries" suffered by Shamrock last week at the hands of Elgin. I'm sure that will be revisited after Elgin emerges victorious in this tourney. Austin is a suitable replacement and I thought he and Rhino had a decent match. I don't expect much out of Rhino at this stage of his career, but he held his own and Austin carried him to a competent performance. The right man won.

Crazzy Steve def. Dave Crist

Per IMPACT, Steve has officially re-signed. It's a shame Abyss has since left for a producer role in WWE because it would have been cool to see Decay reunite (including Rosemary). At any rate, there wasn't anything special about this match whatsoever, but there didn't need to be as the focus was on oVe continuing to tease tension. Madman Fulton roughed up Dave before declaring he was done with oVe all together. I figured that was inevitable given the lengthy losing streak the group has been on for a while now without Sami Callihan's guidance. By the way, is Steve supposed to be Joseph P. Ryan's next rival? Okay then.

TJP and Fallah Bahh def. XXXL

TJP and Bahh have been a blast of a team since joining forces not too long ago. XXXL have also been a quality addition to IMPACT's growing tag team division, so this turned out to be a fun match. Bahh meshed well with his fellow big men while TJP's aerial antics provided some nice variety. It's a shame The North weren't in attendance for these tapings due to being stranded in Canada as that means TJP and Bahh won't be getting another shot at the Impact World Tag Team Championship any time soon.

Moose def. Suicide

Yes, these two did face off last week, but the story was that Moose cheated to beat Suicide, so Suicide was granted a rematch. And yes, the TNA World Heavyweight Championship was on the line again according to Moose. Unfortunately, there was nothing different about this bout compared to their original encounter. It felt like it dragged and Moose dominating a majority of it didn't make it too exciting. Had they shaved off a few minutes, I may have enjoyed this a bit more. Moose cheating to beat Suicide for the second straight week was ridiculous considering how easy of a win this should have been for him.

impact X-Division Champion Willie Mack def. Johnny Swinger

Swinger at one point claimed him and Mack were tag team partners, so he felt he was owed a shot at the strap now that Mack has it. The match was fine and the outcome was it should have been. What I didn't expect, however, was what happened afterward with Chris Bey showing up, attacking Mack and apparently aligning with Swinger. I could have done without that last part, but I'm all in on a feud between Bey and Mack over the title.

​Michael Elgin def. Sami Callihan in an Impact World Championship No. 1 Contender's Tournament Quarterfinal Match

I'm really surprised this match was given away in the first round, simply because Callihan is the former champion and probably should have gone farther in the tournament. Nonetheless, this was an above-average main event between two people I don't believe we'd seen cross paths yet in IMPACT. Callihan has been seemingly been teasing a babyface turn recently, so it had a good dynamic and they beat the hell out of each other. I see Elgin winning this whole thing, so it made sense for him to advance.

Overall Show

The Impact World Championship No. 1 Contender's Tournament rolled on this week and was once again the focal point of the program. The opening and closing matches made this show worthwhile, but there was some solid stuff in the middle as well with the Moose interview, Bey turning heel, Fulton walking away from oVe and TJP and Bahh maintaining momentum. Props to IMPACT for making the most out of these empty arena shows and doing their best to continue producing original content.