IMPACT! Wrestling Review - November 2, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Joe Hendry def. Frankie Kazarian in the Finals of the Glasgow Cup

Obviously, the rest of the this random tournament didn't air, so it was weird that they bothered to show the finals. Hendry was the hometown hero, so it felt like a foregone conclusion he was going over, but they had an enjoyable match, nonetheless. Hendry has been doing a whole lot of nothing lately, so we'll see if this gets him back on track. I'm curious what's next for Kazarian now that he's finished his feud with Eddie Edwards.

Moose, Brian Myers and Deonna Purrazzo def. SUBCULTURE (Mark Andrews, Flash Morgan Webster and Dani Luna)

Moose and Myers didn't go by their silly team name, for what it's worth. That's no to say they might not be a team anymore (they clearly are), but maybe they realized the team name sounded ridiculous. The match itself was well worked with all six stars having solid showings. They received plenty of time and SUBCULTURE had a chance to shine, but Purrazzo's team had to go over as she'll be challenging Trinity for the Impact Knockouts World Championship at Turning Point tomorrow night.

Grado def. Trey Miguel

It's wild to think that Grado hasn't been a part of IMPACT in almost a decade. He was a big deal at the time and IMPACT didn't do much with him, but apparently he's still popular overseas. Ideally, I wouldn't have had Miguel lose to a comedy guy, but considering the circumstances, it won't make much of a difference in the long run. This was a good house-show style match with Miguel playing a fun foil for Grado and getting his comeuppance.

Impact Knockouts World Champion Trinity def. Emersyn Jayne (Non-Title)

A pre-match video package introducing Jayne to the IMPACT audience would've been helpful. I'm sure this crowd was familiar with her, but I can't say I've ever heard of her before now. That said, I thought she fared well and they had a decent match. It was basically a warm-up for Trinity before her title defense against Purrazzo at Turning Point, but it wasn't a straightforward squash, which I appreciated.

The Motor City Machine Guns def. Eric Young and Josh Alexander

It was cool that Alexander and Young teamed up for the first time here given their history from last year and Young having matching gear with Alexander was a nice touch. However, Motor City Machine Guns are the actual team of the two and are also champions, so it made more sense for them to go over. Shelley and Alexander have such strong chemistry that, needless to say, I wouldn't mind to see their feud continue. This was a terrific main event.

Overall Show

IMPACT traveled to the United Kingdom right after Bound for Glory and that was when these matches were taped. Of course, none of them had much storyline significance and there was barely any hype for Turning Point tomorrow night (they couldn't have waited a little longer to hold it?), but it was a perfectly solid show for what it was supposed to be. At least we got some quality wrestling throughout and the change in atmosphere was fun.

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