IMPACT! Wrestling Review - November 9, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Tasha Steelz def. Deonna Purrazzo

Footage was shown of these two unsuccessfully challenging for the Impact Knockouts Word Tag Team Championship at Bound for Glory. That ended up being a dark match because it didn't make the main card or even the pre-show. I don't know if either of them are supposed to be babyfaces going forward, but it made sense to put Steelz over Purrazzo if Purrazzo is indeed on her way out of IMPACT. It was a well-worked opener.

Crazzy Steve def. Impact Digital Media Champion Tommy Dreamer by Disqualification

This was Steve's Feast or Fired title shot. I thought we'd get this match at Bound for Glory, but I'm not disappointed we didn't just because the card we got was strong as it was and this was better off on IMPACT! Wrestling or an Impact Plus-exclusive event. This was decent, but it didn't last long and the disqualification finish with Dreamer using the fork means the feud will continue and we'll be getting a rematch soon.

Brian Myers def. Joe Hendry

I honestly have no clue what Hendry does going forward now that Yuya Uemura is apparently actually gone from IMPACT (unless he's set to return and we just don't know it yet). These two have history over the Impact Digital Media Championship and worked well together once again here, having a pretty good match. Myers and Moose will be challenging for the Impact World Tag Team Championship sometime soon, so Myers going over was logical.

Eric Young def. Eddie Edwards

This was another renewal of a rivalry and another match I'm not sure why we got it. They had a solid match in the time they were allotted, but I don't recall seeing any setup for this, and without anything at stake, it felt like filler. Edwards is coming off a loss to Will Ospreay at last week's Turning Point event, so it's interesting he didn't rebound with a win here. I'm curious to see where both guys go from here.

Dirty Dango and Oleg Prudius def. Nick Diamond and Storm Graysin

This is probably the first match I've seen Prudius (f.k.a. WWE's Vladimir Kozlov) have since 2011, though we didn't get to see him do much because this was so short and they completely dominated their opponents (as they should have). I like this little group that Dango has put together for himself now that he's a heel. Perhaps this is a sign they'll be entering the tag team ranks.

Impact World Champion Alex Shelley def. Jonathan Gresham

Gresham turned heel weeks ago in that match with Mike Bailey and there's been barely any follow-up with him since then. Granting him a world title opportunity was random and there was no reason to think he was winning, but I can't complain about getting a wrestling clinic from these seasoned stars. This was exceptionally wrestled as they made every minute matter and I was thoroughly entertained. I'm glad Shelley wasn't too hurt after not being able to compete at Turning Point and he can resume his reign without much interruption.

Overall Show

There was no formal edition of IMPACT! Wrestling two weeks ago, last week's edition felt like a televised house show from the United Kingdom, and Turning Point was fun yet not significant storyline-wise. This show also came across like a placeholder episode, leaving me to wonder if IMPACT as a whole is in placeholder mode until the TNA rebrand/relaunch at Hard to Kill in January. We still have Final Resolution next month, but what does that card end up looking like? Little indication was given on this episode. There was plenty of superb wrestling, but nothing too meaningful as stuff just seemed to happen.

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