IMPACT! Wrestling Review - October 20, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Hernandez def. Rhino, Alisha Edwards, Heath and Cousin Jake in a Five-Way Match to Earn the No. 20 Entry in the Call Your Shot Battle Royal at Bound for Glory

It probably seemed strange to those who don't regularly watch the show as to why Alisha was in there. Well, she and the other four guys won a 10-person tag team match last week to earn the right to face each other here where the winner would be named the No. 20 entrant in Saturday's Call Your Shot Battle Royal at Bound for Glory. She didn't factor into the match much, but she did take a brutal Gore from Rhino, and because Rhino felt bad, Hernandez capitalized and quickly rolled him up for the victory. This was a perfectly serviceable opener that accomplished what it needed to. Heath almost has to win on Saturday, because if he doesn't, both he and Rhino are gone from the promotion (in storyline).

Rosemary def. Havok

I never really cared for the feud these two had, so I didn't have much of a desire to see them go at it again here. That said, it did serve a purpose because if Rosemary won, Havok would have to help her bring Father James Mitchell back from the undead realm (I think?) for her upcoming wedding. She won, so that's what's going to happen. The match was thankfully only a few minutes long and didn't overstay its welcome.

Sami Callihan def. Eddie Edwards

These two did battle over the Impact World Championship just recently on the show, but obviously, their bad blood dates back a lot further than that. They always work well together and have developed quite the chemistry by this point, so it didn't come as much of a surprise that this was another good match from them. Ken Shamrock distracting Edwards from the apron and costing him the victory should mean that Edwards will beat Shamrock at Bound for Glory. By the way, did we ever find out why Shamrock started listening to Callihan and they're heels all of a sudden?

Trey Miguel, Willie Mack and TJP def. Impact X-Division Champion Rohit Raju, Chris Bey and Jordynne Grace

After the opener, this was the second intergender match on the show, and I have to say, Grace didn't feel out of place at all. Maybe it's because I can believably buy into her as a threat to anyone or because she's been protected to the point where it makes sense to see her in there with the guys, but either way, I was impressed with how seamless it felt and I applaud IMPACT as well as Grace for that. This was a fun six-person affair where the action was all over the place and Trey pinning Raju for the win was designed to give him a last-minute momentum boost before the pay-per-view.

The Good Brothers vs. The North Ended in a No Contest

This served as a small preview of what we can expect in the four-way tag team match for the Impact World Tag Team Championship at Bound for Glory. Neither team should have lost here, so I was fine with the non-finish. It was a solid main event that never reached that next gear, but it wasn't supposed to. Rather, the focus was on the post-match brawl that broke out between the four teams that saw Good Brothers stand tall. They were originally my pick to win, but I may have to go with Ace Austin and Madman Fulton instead because of how they haven't won anything of importance in months.

Overall Show

The first half of the episode was filled with promos, hype packages, and interviews with Moose and Eric Young, and almost all of it was excellent. Similar to Slammiversary, it feels like IMPACT is going all out with this pay-per-view, except now, they aren't building it around the arrival of ex-WWE stars. Instead, it's about the current roster and the awesome work they've been doing since then. No one match on this show stood out as special, but the wrestling was entertaining on the whole and the promo stuff was terrific. I have full faith IMPACT is going to deliver another hell of an event on Saturday night and I can't wait for it.