IMPACT! Wrestling Review - September 9, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Impact Knockouts Tag Team Champion Rosemary def. Tasha Steelz

Considering Steelz and Savannah Evans are clearly being groomed for a shot at the Impact Knockouts Tag Team Championship, I'm slightly surprised Steelz lost here. Then again, would her beating one-half of the champs be too predictable? Nonetheless, this was a perfectly fine opener. Rosemary and Steelz haven't had too many matches against each other, so this felt fresh. Steelz and Evans got the better of Decay afterward.

Impact World Tag Team Champion Karl Anderson def. Rich Swann in a Bunkhouse Brawl

I wish this was the match we were getting at Victory Road instead of Swann and Willie Mack against The Good Brothers. Most of Good Brothers' matches can be very hit or miss, but this was a ton of fun. Swann and Anderson are underrated workers in my opinion, so I was happy to see them be given a chance to shine here and make the most of it. They made great use of the stipulation, kept it entertaining, and had Swann ultimately fall to the numbers game. This would have been the main event on almost any other episode.

David Finlay def. Chris Bey

Bey and Jay White feuded with FinJuice going into Emergence, so these two are very familiar with each other. As expected, it was an entertaining outing with both guys looking good. I'm digging Bey's new Bullet Club-inspired entrance music. I figured he'd win here, but I had no problem with Juice Robinson being the reason why he lost. Post-match, Hikuelo (who is fresh off a handful of appearances in AEW) made his IMPACT debut and aligned with Bey, setting up a tag team match for Victory Road.

Steve Maclin def. Petey Williams

This was a rematch from Emergence last month. I feared that Williams would get his win back when I saw that the feud was continuing, but I'm glad that wasn't the case. Despite not being given a ton of time, they had another well-wrestled match and the result was the right one. Williams is the perfect guy to be elevating talent at this stage of his career and Maclin continues to impress based on what we've seen from him so far.

Moose def. Eddie Edwards

Moose and Edwards have been going at it for years and never cease to have quality matches. They worked a strong pace here and the crowd was into the action. With Moose having W. Morrissey in his corner, it made sense for him to go over. Post-match, chaos ensued with everyone set to take part in the Team Christian Cage vs. Team Ace Austin main event next week and Sami Callihan and Edwards finally getting on the same page. I appreciate it took Edwards a long time to finally trust Callihan given their checkered past.

Overall Show

IMPACT is putting together a strong card for Victory Road next Saturday and the build continues to be well done. A majority of this episode centered around Christian and Ace recruiting people to their respective teams for next week's 10-man tag team main event and it culminated in a cool angle at the end. There was some strong wrestling on this episode in addition to the usual effective storyline, so these two hours were a solid piece of business.

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