IMPACT! Wrestling Review - May 5, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Ken Shamrock and Michael Elgin Interrupted Sami Callihan

It was teased here that Shamrock and Callihan would bury the hatchet, but Elgin interrupted them before they could shake hands. As for Callihan attacking the rest of oVe at Rebellion, all he said was that he didn't need anyone to help him against Shamrock. I'm surprised Callihan didn't cross paths with them on this show, especially considering they were in action right after this. Nonetheless, this was a solid way of introducing the Impact World Championship No. 1 Contender's Tournament kicking off next week.

XXXL def. oVe

oVe has been been a losing streak for months now, pretty much since Callihan branched off and started doing his own thing. As a result, it's difficult to take them seriously as a threat by this point. As for XXXL, they're new on IMPACT's tag team scene and have been impressive thus far. This was a good match, even though it felt like it lasted a little long. XXXL challenging The North for the Impact World Tag Team Championship would be cool if The North were able to make the tapings.

Suicide def. Johnny Swinger

Suicide was also at Rebellion, so it looks like he'll be sticking around for the foreseeable future. He's a nice asset for the X-Division to have available, but I could do without him facing losers like Swinger. Needless to say, there wasn't anything about this bout that I'd consider exciting whatsoever. On the bright side, it was kept short and sweet with Suicide going over decisively.

Joseph P. Ryan def. Cousin Jake

I couldn't have cared less for the match these two had last week, but I have no idea why they faced off again aside from attempting to kill as much television time as possible. This was just as boring as their original encounter and had no business going nine minutes. As I've said before, I appreciate Ryan's effort to switch up his stagnant gimmick, but it doesn't work as well without an audience in attendance.

Impact X-Division Champion Willie Mack def. Ace Austin & Chris Bey in a Three-Way Match

I believe it was supposed to be Mack vs. Bey one-on-one before Austin inserted himself into the match because of his automatic rematch clause for the championship. They were given a ton of time, and once they picked up the pace, this turned into a real gem and the final stretch in particular was terrific. I'm actually glad Mack pinned Austin and not Bey because that means they can go back to Bey as a title contender at some point (preferably soon).

Overall Show

I didn't care much for the Locker Room Talk segment backstage with Madison Rayne, Swinger and Havok, but The North's "defense" of the Impact World Tag Team Championship back in Canada was hilarious. Other than that, the main event was the best thing on this show by a mile. The set-up for the number one contender's tourney was well done and I liked Moose's sit-down interview with Josh Mathews (the TNA World Heavyweight Champion bit has potential), but Ryan vs. Jake almost put me to sleep and Suicide vs. Swinger was whatever. This edition of IMPACT! Wrestling was forgettable from an in-ring standpoint on the whole, but the next few weeks worth of shows should be interesting with the tournament on tap.