IMPACT! Wrestling Review - May 26, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Trey Miguel def. Alex Shelley to Qualify for the Impact X-Division Championship Ultimate X Match at Slammiversary

Both of these guys are great, so this was unsurprisingly a highly entertaining opener. Shelley is obviously seasoned and incredibly talented, so Miguel gains something from beating him. Granted, Miguel is already established, but this is a positive sign that he won't be completely lost in the shuffle after losing the Impact X-Division Championship last month. This was the exciting action the X-Division is known for and I'm looking forward to seeing more of it in Ultimate X.

Masha Slamovich def. Havok

It's about damn time Slamovich faced someone on the roster. This was the most competitive match she's had in IMPACT since signing last year, but despite scoring some offense, Havok lost within a minute or so. In other words, this was exactly what it should have been with Slamovich making short work of Havok and beating her in decisive fashion. I assume this leads to Slamovich vs. Rosemary soon.

Jordynne Grace def. Chelsea Green

Both of these women are set to take part in the Queen of the Mountain match at Slammiversary. I'm glad this was a straight-up singles match with none of the other women getting involved. I don't remember them ever going one-on-one before (at least on TV), so this felt fresh and it was very good. The fact they received as much time as they did was also appreciated. This win gives Grace a momentum boost and Green hardly loses anything in defeat.

Chris Sabin vs. Frankie Kazarian Ended in a No Contest

I love that these two originally faced off almost 20 years ago in a bout billed "the battle of the future" and that they had a chance to lock up again here heading into the 20th anniversary of the IMPACT. AEW may not be working as much with IMPACT as much these days, but there still seems to be an "open door" policy of sorts between the two companies that allows for stuff like this. As expected, they had a very well wrestled outing that unfortunately ended in a non-finish with Honor No More laying both men out.

Bhupinder Gujjar and W. Morrissey def. Raj Singh and Shera

The angle involving Gujjar, Singh and Shera has progressed logically over the last month or two, but I haven't been able to bring myself to care. Gujjar's matches are still hit or miss and his offense didn't look the best in this bout. Morrissey was easily the most interesting part of this whole thing and I'm hoping his involvement in the feud will be done after this. It was a decent match, though nothing stood out about it whatsoever.

Violent By Design (Eric Young, Joe Doering and Deaner) def. Impact World Champion Josh Alexander and Impact World Tag Team Champions The Briscoes

Young will be challenging Alexander for the Impact World Championship at Slammiversary and Doering and Deaner are coming off back-to-back losses to The Briscoes, so it made much sense for them to win here. This was a well worked main event with all six stars having strong showings. They kept the pace consistent throughout and it was cool to see Violent By Design pick up a victory over three top stars in IMPACT.

Overall Show

This was a very wrestling-heavy show. Granted, there were promos backstage throughout the two hours, but nothing that took place in the ring. I'm not complaining as most of the matches held my interest and it made for another enjoyable edition of IMPACT! Wrestling on the whole and the card for Slammiversary is coming together nicely. My only nitpick is that the crowd sounded quieter than usual, maybe because this took place toward the end of a long stretch of tapings.

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