IMPACT! Wrestling Review - May 31, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Rob Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer and Sabu def. Moose and The North

Maybe other people feel differently, but personally, I have zero interest in seeing yet another ECW reunion in 2019, especially in IMPACT, where it's been done to death. To their credit, the ECW legends had a half-decent showing and didn't embarrass themselves, but that wasn't enough to salvage this match for me. The heels losing was a very questionable call as well. By the way, this was never announced as No Disqualification matchup, so I have no clue how Sabu was able to use chairs on his opponents and not be disqualified.

Tessa Blancard def. Glenn Gilbertti

I'm still stunner Blanchard went from feuding with Gail Kim to Disco Inferno of all people, but I'm happy this wasn't dragged out over several weeks and was instead kept short and sweet. Gilbertti ran down Blanchard in a pre-match promo before getting his ass handed to him by her in under a minute. Now I'm curious where she goes from here and if she rekindles her rivalry with Taya Valkyrie over the Impact Knockouts Championship.

The Deaners def. Desi Hit Squad

Any momentum The Deaners had upon their debut quickly dissipated and now they're just another tandem in the division. That said, I'll take them over Desi Hit Squad any day of the week. I can't complain about Desi Hit Squad too much, though, as they put forth a good effort here. This was perfectly fine while it lasted and didn't overstay its welcome. I just don't see either of these teams challenging for the Impact World Tag Team Championship any time soon.

Eddie Edwards def. Killer Kross in a Street Fight

I really enjoyed their first encounter, and they ended up having a better bout this time with there being no disqualifications. They made excellent use of the stipulation and Kross especially shined. This was going great up until the interference from... Sandman. I can't stress enough how lame it is to keep bringing the ECW guys back, especially if it doesn't do anything to benefit those involved. Perhaps this is IMPACT wanting to teach Kross a lesson after he recently requested his release?

Impact X-Division Champion Rich Swann and Willie Mack def. Johnny Impact and Michael Elgin

While it sucks that Brian Cage is out for right now with an injury (and there's no word on when he'll be back), it's cool that theses guys get to rip it up with each other in the meantime. They have terrific chemistry together and I loved that they were given as much time as they were. This was all action from start to finish and there never seemed to be a dull moment. My only nitpick of it was that Impact took the losing fall, which is weird since he'll be challenging for the X-Division title soon, but then again, Elgin shouldn't have been pinned, either. Plus, it was better than doing a non-finish, so it wasn't the worst thing ever.

Overall Show

On the whole, this was a solid edition of IMPACT! Wrestling, though the two matches that made it must-see were Edwards vs. Kross and obviously the main event. IMPACT going all out with its main events some weeks is always something worth looking forward to. The rest of the show was decent, but as I've said several times, I can't get into the ECW stuff these days. At least there was build for Slammiversary as well as for next week's episode.