IMPACT/NJPW Multiverse United Review - March 30, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Pre-Show: Yuya Uemura def. Gabriel Kidd

I'm not familiar with Kidd at all, but I thought he had a solid showing. I'm much more familiar with Uemura from the time he's spent in IMPACT over the last year and he's always impressive. He lacks direction, but at least he isn't consistently booked like a loser. This was a serviceable match to set the tone for the rest of the night. There was nothing out of the ordinary about it, so I had no issue with it being positioned on the pre-show.

Impact X-Division Champion Trey Miguel def. Kevin Knight, Rich Swann, Clark Connors, Frankie Kazarian and Rocky Romero in a Scramble Match

You had to know this would be a chaotic spot-fest based on the athletes involved and they did not disappoint. No, there was no story told, but there didn't need to be. Miguel has been doing well as the X-Division champ and it's another notable accomplishment for him to beat so many stars at once. As expected, this was all action and everyone had their time to shine before Miguel stole the win.

PCO, Fred Rosser, Callihan and Alex Coughlin def. JR Kratos, Eddie Edwards, Impact Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry and Tom Lawlor

This seemed to serve as a showcase for several stars from both promotions. I know PCO and Edwards are currently feuding, but I'm not aware of any other feuds being furthered in this match. It was similar to the previous matchup in that they got as many people in there as possible and it was all over the place, but the crowd enjoyed it. PCO was the fan favorite and thus it made sense for him to pick up the win for his team.

Jeff Cobb def. Moose

This was one of the main matches advertised several weeks ago for this show and I'm glad it didn't get changed. Both guys are the resident powerhouses in their respective promotions and are capable of some outstanding stuff. This was a very entertaining affair. It didn't matter to me who won, especially Moose has been a non-factor in IMPACT for many months now. If he's not on his way out, then they really need to heat him up again in the coming months.

Deonna Purrazzo def. Gisele Shaw, Masha Slamovich and Miyu Yamashita in an Impact Knockouts World Championship No. 1 Contender's Four-Way Match

As a result of her win, Purrazzo will challenge for the Knockouts title at Rebellion. The James vs. Jordynne Grace rematch at Sacrifice last week was canceled due to James suffering a ribs injury, so I'd be down for James vs. Purrazzo vs. Grace in a three-way at Rebellion unless Grace can't compete. Regardless, this was an excellent match, which was unsurprising given the level of talent involved. I've only seen a little of Yamashita and she has stood out every time.

Impact World Tag Team Champions Bullet Club (Ace Austin and Chris Bey) def. NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions The Motor City Machine Guns, Aussie Open, and TMDK (Shane Haste and Dude Tito) in a Four-Way Tag Team Match (NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship Was Not Defended)

​IMPACT has done a number of multi-team matches in the last few months, but they've all been a blast, so I can't complain. There was a ton of talent in this one and thus the fact it delivered was not surprising, nor was the outcome. Bullet Club are still early in their reign as champs and shouldn't drop the belts any time soon. They've now beaten Motor City Machine Guns and TMDK multiple times, but I wouldn't be opposed to them defending against Aussie Open in a straight up tag team match one of these days.

Kushida def. Lio Rush

Kushida was originally set to challenge Josh Alexander for the Impact World Championship on this show prior to Alexander's injury. It's a bummer we didn't get it, but Rush was a perfectly fine replacement opponent. They went out there and had a hell of a sprint. Rush can never seem to stay in the same place for too long, but he's been doing quality work in NJPW this year from what I've seen. Kushida will face Steve Maclin for the vacant Impact World Championship at Rebellion, so he had to win here.

NJPW Strong Openweight Champion KENTA def. Minoru Suzuki

Not only was it nice to get a match featuring just NJPW wrestlers, but they're obviously two of the most recognizable wrestlers in the company. You always know what you're going to get from a Suzuki match and I liked the dynamic he had with KENTA. They had quite the hard-hitting affair with both guys bringing the fight to each other. KENTA cheating to win in the way that he did made for a flat finish, but I understand it was designed to protect Suzuki in defeat and potentially set up the need for a rematch at an NJPW event.

Hiroshi Tanahashi def. "Speedball" Mike Bailey

Bailey vs. Will Ospreay would have been killer, but that isn't to say this wasn't a strong main event in its own right. Bailey has proven he can hang with just about anyone and Tanahashi never ceases to bring the goods. It was a cool clash of styles and ended up being the best choice to go on last. Bailey loses nothing in defeat, though hopefully it isn't long before he has direction in IMPACT again (beyond his mini feud with Jonathan Gresham, of course).

Overall Show

Ospreay and Alexander having to pull out of the event due to injuries was a shame, but IMPACT and NJPW made the most of a bad situation and produced an above-average event, anyway. It wasn't storyline significant by any means, but there was plenty of terrific wrestling across the card. I'm not a big fan of shoehorning as many people onto a show as possible, but I'm just happy we got another joint show from IMPACT and NJPW follow the success of Multiverse of Matches last year. This was an easy thumbs-up event.

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