IMPACT! Wrestling Review - October 19, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

"Speedball" Mike Bailey def. Samuray del Sol

Bailey needed this victory heading into his huge match with Will Ospreay at Bound for Glory, especially after he randomly lost to Jonathan Gresham a few weeks ago. He and Samuray had the enjoyable, fast-paced opener you'd expect from two X-Division guys. Samuray is a terrific talent and is a great pickup for IMPACT if he sticks around. Bailey is undoubtedly losing to Ospreay (as he should), but this gave him a nice momentum boost.

Kenny King def. Heath

King and Heath have been at odds for a while with Heath getting involved in at least two of King's title defenses when he was Impact Digital Media Champion. Heath has held his own in these matches where he's more of a serious singles star and less of a comedy figure, but King has been losing quite a bit lately and was the smarter choice to go over here. They had a quality contest and it was better to blow off their feud here on the go-home show as opposed to Bound for Glory where it likely would have ended up on the pre-show.

Crazzy Steve def. Black Taurus in a No Disqualification Match

This is another match that would have gotten lost in the shuffle on the Bound for Glory card (not to mention there's going to be a Monster's Ball match that is bound to be even more hardcore). This was a terrific brawl and both guys gave it a hell of an effort. As of this writing, Steve is not currently advertised to challenge Tommy Dreamer for the Digital Media title, which is surprising because it felt like a lock.

The Most Professional Wrestling Gods def. PCO and Rhino

Apparently Moose and Brian Myers are going by The Most Professional Wrestling Gods as their team name now, and that seems like a stretch to merge their respective nicknames into one. At any rate, this was a well-worked tag team match that served as a preview of the Monster's Ball bout with Moose, PCO, Rhino and Steve Maclin on Saturday night. PCO taking the pinfall loss made sense since he's on his way out.

Impact World Champion Alex Shelley and Josh Alexander Brawled Following a Split-Screen Interview

Scott D'Amore acted as the moderator and asked the questions, but it was basically Shelley and Alexander talking over each other the entire time. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though, as I thought they had a good exchange with Shelley again showing some heelish tendencies. I can certainly see him cheating to retain his title against Alexander, but I don't know that would make for the strongest ending to the event.

Mickie James and Impact Knockouts World Champion Trinity def. Savannah Evans and Gisele Shaw

Was there ever truly a doubt who was winning here? Shaw has improved a lot in the last two years, but she's constantly being used as a stepping stone for other women. I appreciate that she wasn't the one pinned here, and it was a solid main event. James and Trinity were able to coexist and pick up the victory. Although their Bound for Glory match sells itself, I wish the buildup had been a bit better.

Overall Show

This was everything you would want out of a pay-per-view go-home show, so it was a success in my book. A few feuds culminated, the wrestling delivered, and we got hype for pretty much every match on the card in one way or another. As I've said before, the hype for Bound for Glory hasn't been hot, but I'm looking forward to it, nonetheless. IMPACT tends to deliver on the bigger stages and this lineup has serious potential.

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