IMPACT! Wrestling Review - September 22, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Trey Miguel def. TJP and Chris Bey in an Impact X-Division Championship No. 1 Contender's Three-Way Match; Impact X-Division Champion Rohit Raju def. Miguel

This was a fun three-way with the X-Division guys and was perfectly positioned as the opener. It was all action and everybody got to shine. It helped that the outcome was unpredictable as any one of them could have won and it would have made sense. I thought the winner would get their title shot later in the show, but Raju opted to do the match right then and there instead. He quickly rolled up Migeul, grabbed the tights, and it was over. Miguel will obviously get another opportunity at some point, possibly at Bound for Glory, assuming TJP and Bey aren't added into the mix to make it a four-way.

Susie def. Kimber Lee

This was much more competitive than I thought it would be. Then again, I can't remember the last time Lee won since IMPACT signed her earlier this year, so I guess I should have expected that. It was a pretty decent match and I'm glad Susie isn't as limited as she was when she first starting doing the gimmick. The matchup wasn't as important as what we found out afterward, which was that Kylie Rae will challenge Deonna Purrazzo for the Impact Knockouts Championship at Bound for Glory. I assume Susie's win here was designed to build her up before she inevitably loses to Purrazzo.

Eddie Edwards Saved Scott D'Amore and The Deaners From Impact World Champion Eric Young

Although Young's attack on The Deaners went a little longer than I would have liked, this was a strong segment on the whole. Young has excelled as IMPACT's top heel since returning at Slammiversary and this segment showcased how vicious he can be, taking out two guys at once. Security eventually emerged as well as Eddie Edwards, but I was wondering why nobody came out sooner to save The Deaners. Young also got in D'Amore's face, leading to the announcement later on that Edwards will get his rematch for the Impact World Championship against Young at the Victory Road special on IMPACT Plus on October 3rd.

Rob Van Dam def. Sami Callihan; Callihan Attacked Katie Forbes

RVD doesn't move around like he used to, but he had a pretty good showing here. Of course​, he benefited from working with an opponent as talented as Callihan. I liked their first match and this was equally enjoyable in my opinion. The stipulation was strange, though, because if RVD won, then Forbes would have gotten five minutes with Callihan. However, shouldn't it have been the other way around? Shouldn't Callihan have been the one to want to get his hands on Forbes? He lost to RVD but still managed to lay out Forbes with a piledriver afterward. Either way, Josh Mathews seemed to indicate on commentary that this was the end of the road for their rivalry, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it continue.

Tenille Dashwood def. Jordynne Grace

These are two of the best women's wrestlers going today and they did not disappoint. The entire Knockouts division is stacked at the moment and it's cool to see these two doing their own thing outside of the title picture. I was fully expecting Grace to pick up the win after Dashwood dominated a majority of the match, but that was not the case. Rather, Kaleb Konley (her new personal photographer) interfered at ringside and aided Dashwood to victory. Hey, I'm not complaining, as Dashwood wasn't booked very well following her loss to Taya Valkyrie at Bound for Glory last year and thus she needed this way more than Grace. Yes, Grace has suffered a few losses lately to Purrazzo and now Dashwood, but I'm sure she'll have no problem rebounding. I'd definitely be down for a rematch eventually.

Overall Show

My favorite part of the show wasn't anything I wrote about above but rather the latest #Heath4IMPACT vignette, which featured some hilarious cameos and was just amazing overall. Seriously, seek it out online if you didn't catch it. That genuinely made me laugh out loud several times. The show on the whole was entertaining, and as always, there was solid storyline progression in addition to quality wrestling. A ton of stuff happened backstage, but almost everything served a purpose and held my attention. In addition to building to next week, there was also more hype for Bound for Glory with Purrazzo vs. Rae being officially announced as well as Young vs. Edwards for Victory Road. Props to IMPACT for keeping the momentum going after their heavily-touted Slammiversary pay-per-view two months ago.