IMPACT! Wrestling Review - October 13, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Bully Ray, Moose, Steve Maclin and Bobby Fish Interrupted Impact World Champion Josh Alexander

Holy long-winded opening segment, Batman. I know this show rarely opens with talking segments, but so much was said in this segment that could have been condensed in half the time. It gave me flashbacks to the post-Bound for Glory episode in 2011 where a ton of people interrupted each other for 45 minutes (including commercial breaks). This wasn't quite that long, but it felt that way. Bully, Moose and Maclin all teased going for the title only for Fish to straight-up challenge Alexander to a match, which Alexander accepted. There was some solid mic work here, but I would have liked if this was a little shorter.

Killer Kelly def. Tasha Steelz in a No Disqualification Match

This feud has been fine, but I don't know if it's been heated enough to warrant a No Disqualification stipulation. That said, they made the most of it and had a well-worked match. The purpose of this program was to introduce Kelly to the IMPACT audience by having her work with a former Impact Knockouts World Champion, so now that she's beaten her, we'll see if she take the next step toward the title.

Trey Miguel def. Alex Zayne, Laredo Kid, Yuya Uemura, Kenny King and Black Taurus in a Six-Way Match

This was your typical X-Division match that served as a showcase for all six stars and the action was enjoyable and chaotic. There was no story told and no existing rivalries, so it was basically a spot-fest and a fun one at that. I've mentioned before how Miguel not doing anything of importance is criminal, so I'm glad this win seemingly gets back on track toward the Impact X-Division Championship.

Gisele Shaw and VXT def. Impact Knockouts World Tag Team Champions The Death Dollz (Jessicka, Taya Valkyrie and Rosemary)

Apparently Death Dollz will be following the Freebird rule as tag champs in that any two of the three will be able to defend the titles. From an in-ring standpoint, this was a decent tag team match. It merely existed to give the heels a win over the babyfaces and build toward VXT getting their rematch for the titles. There isn't much of a story there beyond that, though. It's possible we get Shaw vs. Rosemary out of this as well seeing as how Shaw pinned Rosemary here.

Matt Cardona def. Bhupinder Gujjar

Cardona has been absent from IMPACT for several months due to injury, but he's been back in the ring now for a bit and he made his IMPACT return at Bound for Glory in the Call Your Shot Gauntlet Battle Royal, where he was eliminated by Gujjar. Gujjar has had bad blood with Cardona's partner Brian Myers as of late, so Myers aiding Cardona to victory was logical. The match itself was adequate. Gujjar has been impressive but is still missing something as a character.

Impact World Champion Josh Alexander def. Bobby Fish

Yes, Fish getting a title shot right out of the gate and doing nothing to deserve it was pretty ridiculous, and I don't think it was as big of a deal as IMPACT made it out to be with this taping taking place in Fish's hometown of Albany. Did anyone actually care? This wasn't an instant classic by any means and there was zero chance of Fish winning, but he scored a lot of offense and didn't look bad at all. This was an entertaining affair. Post-match, Frankie Kazarian emerged and announced he was utilizing Option C. I assume that will take place at Over Drive next month.

Overall Show

This was far from the hot post-pay-per-view episode IMPACT needed to capitalize off whatever momentum they gained coming out of Bound for Glory, but all in all, it was a serviceable show. The Impact World Championship was the central focus as we already know who's next in line as well as three other potential challengers, but nothing else stood out in a major way. The build to next week's show was well done, but not many questions were answered as far as where certain storylines are headed.

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