IMPACT! Wrestling Review - October 28, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Impact World Champion Moose and Eddie Edwards Brawled; Josh Alexander and Minoru Suzuki Brawled

What a wild opening segment. Before Moose could cut his first promo as Impact World Champion, he was interrupted by Edwards, who he has a history with and was feuding with again heading into Bound for Glory. Moose has improved his mic work a lot over the years as a heel, so I liked the promo. I can see some people taking issue with the not-so-subtle references to WWE and AEW stars, but it wasn't like he was taking any real shots at them. That brought out Alexander, who Moose took the title from, but before they could go at it, Suzuki made his IMPACT debut and brawled with Alexander. I appreciated how much stuff this segment set up for future episodes and beyond.

Impact X-Division Champion Trey Miguel def. Rocky Romero

I have no idea what Romero did to earn a shot at the title since he lost the Call Your Shot Gauntlet match at Bound for Glory, but hey, I'm not complaining. This was an enjoyable opening match. Romero is a hell of a hand and Miguel has been on another level lately (and he was on a high level to begin with), so it was no surprise they worked well together. This was a nice start to Miguel's title reign. Keep giving him chances like this to shine and he should be a great champion.

Rachael Ellering def. Tasha Steelz

Ellering told Steelz in a backstage segment beforehand that this felt familiar because they already feuded earlier this year, though Steelz had a different tag team partner at that point. Steelz wanted a shot at Jordynne Grace's new Impact Digital Media Championship, but it doesn't look like she'll be getting one after this. The match was decent but nothing special. The finish looked botched as Steelz clearly got her shoulders up before the referee counted three.

Heath vs. Joe Doering Ended in a No Contest

I guess it makes sense to do a little more with this feud now that Heath and Rhino are back to being buddies. The payoff was perfect at Bound for Glory, so I hope the storyline doesn't lose that steam. Neither guy should have lost here, so I was fine with the non-finish (even though it was executed pretty poorly). Plus, it was more about the post-match angle with Eric Young revealing he's been medically cleared and laying out the babyfaces.

Impact Knockouts Champion Mickie James Accepted Madison Rayne's Challenge

It's crazy to think that it was a decade ago that these two were feuding over the Impact Knockouts Championship. Both women can still very much go in the ring as well, which is why I'm looking forward to them rekindling that rivalry next week with the gold up for grabs. This was a pretty standard verbal exchange and I appreciated how it predictably didn't end in (too much) physicality.

Ace Austin def. Chris Sabin

Now that I sit here thinking about it, what the hell happened to Christopher Daniels in IMPACT? He hasn't been on the show in a few weeks, and I bring that up because I assumed/hoped he would face Austin at Bound for Glory and put him over. Since that didn't happen and Daniels is nowhere to be seen, Austin needed a high-profile win and this was it. They didn't have the barn burner I know they're capable of, and it felt out of place in the main event slot, but what we got was damn good and had the right result.

Overall Show

While I wouldn't go so far as to call this a hot show (and not as newsworthy as it should have been considering it was their first show post-Bound for Glory), it was an entertaining two hours. Multiple matches were set up for next week and the opening segment left the door open for a bunch of stuff. There wasn't an emphasis on the in-ring action, but I enjoyed Austin vs. Sabin and Miguel vs. Romero. Ellering vs. Steelz was easily the weakest point of the show as it didn't accomplish anything.

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