IMPACT! Wrestling Review - September 2, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Taylor Wilde, Jordynne Grace and Rachael Ellering def. The Influence (Tenille Dashwood, Madison Rayne and Kaleb with a K)

The Influence just beat Wilde in a three-on-one Handicap match last week, so it was logical to assume that the babyfaces were winning this one. Kaleb continues to play his role well and the rest of this was enjoyable as an opener. With Grace and Ellering back to being on the same page, I'm curious if we'll see them re-enter the Impact Knockouts Tag Team Championship picture now that the belts are on Decay.

Decay (Crazzy Steve and Black Taurus) def. Fallah Bahh and No Way

Beforehand, Tasha Steelz and Savannah Evans attacked Rosemary and Havok, so that looks to be our next Impact Knockouts Tag Team Championship program. The match that followed was fairly boring with no one in particular standing out. It felt like it only existed for the pre-match angle to happen. Bahh and No Way are an acceptable team, but I still think his pairing with TJP (who returned in a backstage segment on this episode) is better as far as the dynamic goes.

Moose and W. Morrissey Attacked Eddie Edwards

Moose and Edwards feuding feels like a retread from their rivalry a few years ago, but I guess it keeps both guys busy, if nothing else. Edwards and Morrissey still have bad blood apparently, so the heels took turns beating him up here. The commentators noted that Sami Callihan coming to his aid would make sense, but it won't happen until Callihan accepts it. Thus, I expect this angle to culminate in a tag match at Victory Road with Edwards and Callihan attempting to coexist.

Impact X-Division Champion Josh Alexander def. Jake Crist

It's been well over a year since Crist was last seen on IMPACT! Wrestling. He was a member of oVe and had a reign with the Impact X-Division Championship back in 2019, which is why he was able to answer the open challenge here. He actually stood out during his singles run as "The Golden Draw" and I thought had a solid showing against Alexander in what was a decent match while it lasted. Post-match, Chris Sabin emerged to challenge Alexander to a match for the title at Victory Road, which Alexander accepted. I'm really looking forward to that one.

Rohit Raju and Shera def. Matt Cardona and Chelsea Green

IMPACT tends to do intergender matches quite a bit (hell, we had two on this show), and while I think IMPACT does intergender wrestling better than most companies, I didn't need to see it here. I can see Green being a threat to Raju (who feuded with Grace for a brief period last year), but it was ridiculous to think she stood a chance against Shera. The match was fine for what it was but nothing more. It furthered the feud, so at least it accomplished that.

Rich Swann Interrupted Impact World Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers

Good Brothers addressed losing to Swann and Willie Mack last week and putting Mack through a table afterward. It wasn't long before Swann ran out with a chair to fend them off, leading to Swann vs. Karl Anderson in a Bunkhouse Brawl match being made official for next week. It was a solid segment to set that up. Swann and Mack vs. Good Brothers, this time for the tag titles, looks likely for Victory Road.

Ace Austin def. Tommy Dreamer

If Dreamer beat Austin, he would have been added to the Impact World Championship match between Austin and Christian Cage at Victory Road to make it a three-way. I've said before that Dreamer probably shouldn't be wrestling regularly in 2021 or featured in main events, but this story made sense given his history with Christian. It also didn't last longer than he needed to. He gave it a good effort before ultimately falling short. It was what it needed to be.

Overall Show

From an in-ring standpoint, this edition of IMPACT! Wrestling lacked compared to most as none of the matches were overly memorable. The storyline progression was well done per usual as well as the hype for Victory Road and hype for next week, but there aren't any matches worth going out of your way to see. If you missed this show, you didn't miss much, but the two hours were far from awful. Rather, it wasn't the most exciting episode I've seen recently.

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