Against All Odds
July 1st, 2022
Center Stage - Atlanta, Georgia
Pre-Show:
1) Black Taurus vs. Laredo Kid
This was a blast and the perfect length. It only goes seven minutes so no room for filler or excess. Just these two running a great sprint with a ton of awesome spots. The crowd was hot for both guys which added to it as well. Taurus gets the win.
Match rating - ***
2) Brian Myers (c) vs. Rich Swann - Digital Media Championship Match
This was fun. I don’t really care about either guy, but you can’t deny how easy of a watch this was. I hate that Swann has so many shit allegations in his past because he really is such a fun act for Impact to have on their roster and I feel like all his shittiness has overshadowed any positive credit to his name. Which, I mean.. rightfully so. Anyway.
Match rating - **3/4
MAIN SHOW:
1) Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) vs. BULLET CLUB (Chris Bey & Ace Austin)
You know this rocked. Shelley is so consistent this year as always. Sabin is also a super solid hand.. as always. Then you’ve got the new young guns of the BC, Chris Bey & Ace Austin. I’m not big on either guy and I think BC is bloated as fuck, but Bey has delivered for me lately and Ace Austin’s story in the BOSJ and joining BC has been pretty cool. So, yeah, this was good. It’s the first ever time for Bey & Ace tagging and I’d totally be down for more. MCMG made them look great, even in defeat.
Match rating - ***1/2
Backstage, Karl Anderson gets his team hyped up to face Honor No More later. Gallows, Heath, and Storm all get chances to talk.
2) Mickie James & Mia Yim vs. Deonna Purazzo & Chelsea Green
I love everyone here pretty much. Mia & Mickie do a cool ass entrance that mesh both of their personas. Deonna and Chelsea look great together as well considering the attitudes they have. Mickie ends up being the face in peril and Yim gets the hot tag. Deonna was my favorite part of this, though. She is just so so good. But at the same time, Mickie & Mia had a great first time performance as a team and I’d love to see them take a run at the knockouts tag titles. Deonna & Chelsea get the W here, though.
Match rating - ***
Backstage, Eddie Edwards is getting his Honor No More cohorts riled up for the match tonight. Eddie says PCO isn’t involved in the match tonight, but Vincent says he should be and they make the decision to pull Vincent and put PCO in his place.
3) “Speedball” Mike Bailey (c) vs. Trey Miguel - X Division Championship Match
How does Speedball keep doing it? This was phenomenal. 15 minutes and it felt like 6 or 7. I wanted this to keep going, but I think part of the brilliance of this was how logical and simple it was. Miguel declines a handshake and immediately charges Speedball to start. Crazy ass dive and some spots on the outside. These two get the flying and fast paced stuff out of the way in that early 3-4 minutes and then settled into focused leg work. Both guys went after the other’s knees and legs and kept that story all the way to the finish while also delivering thrilling moments that made the crowd peak at all of the perfect times. The selling and pacing was virtually flawless. Then the finish.. Speedball has never hit the Flamingo Driver in Impact. I didn’t realize this, but the fact that he saved that moment for here when it made sense is just brilliant. Due to all the damage to his legs and the missed Ultima Weapon attempt, Bailey fights out of a hanging meteora attempt from Miguel and nails the Flamingo Driver for the first time for the win. Awesome fucking match. Bailey retains.
Match rating - ****1/4
4) Taya Valkyrie & Rosemary (c) vs. Tenille Dashwood & Gisele Shaw (w/ Madison Rayne) - Knockouts World Tag Team Title Match
Another solid little match here. There were some small issues here or there, but for the most part, this was a fine match. Shaw attempts a crazy ass twisting move off the top rope and almost misses Rosemary. It didn’t bother as much as it did some people because she still caught the leg and Rosemary sold it. Plus, if everything in wrestling would perfect, how would it even be believable? Valkyrie & Rosemary win as expected considering Shaw is just a replacement partner for Dashwood since Rayne is injured.
Match rating - **1/2
5) Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, James Storm, Chris Harris, & Heath vs. Honor No More (Eddie Edwards, PCO, Kenny King, Matt Taven, & Michael Bennett) (w/ Maria Kanellis & Vincent)
This Honor No More thing is so hard for me to care about. It’s a good idea, but no one in the unit excites me besides PCO and that’s because he’s fucking nuts. This match is cool for old TNA heads because it’s the first time in 11 years that Chris Harris has competed. I’ve been watching some of the old NWA era PPV’s lately so when I saw America’s Most Wanted was in this, I got kinda stoked. Harris didn’t look good, but what can you expect after being away over a decade? They covered him up well and gave him a spot or two to shine and get his moments in with the crowd which was fun. This was a pretty harmless 10 man that didn’t overstay its welcome. The faces get the victory and feel good moment after Storm & Harris hit the death sentence.
Match rating - ***
6) Sami Callihan vs. Moose - Clockwork Orange House of Fun
These two had a good Monster’s Ball match a few weeks ago at Slammiversary. I guess they decided to do another plunder match? I don’t even know why this is a feud, but I’m here for the ride. Raven is a guest for this one since it’s his gimmick match. He joins commentary for the match. It’s a good time for the most part. Your basic hardcore match with blood and some sick spots. The most shocking moment was Moose cutting Callihan open with a piece of glass (I think it was glass I can’t fully remember).. I just didn’t expect that. This was on track to being a little better than the Monster’s Ball, but the interference kinda notched it back down to around the same level for me. Moose wins off some interference from Steve Maclin. This one had it all, though. Chairs, tables, doors, a barbed wire bat, legos and glass shards. A funny moment happened when Callihan brought out tables and the crowd chanted “GCW” which pissed Sami off. But yeah. Great brawl and spots here.
Match rating - ***1/2
7) Jordynne Grace (c) vs. Tasha Steelz - Impact Knockouts Championship Match
Tasha lost the KO’s title in the Queen of the Mountain match to Jordynne a few weeks ago. Since then, Tasha sent her partner Savannah Evans after Jordynne, but she failed to get a victory. So, Tasha doesn’t really have any momentum heading into this, but she definitely has fire. This was yet another good match. This card is solid as fuck through and through. They only go 12 minutes or something like that so there’s not really any wasted motion. They trade stuff for nearfalls including a great one off a superplex. Tasha even kicks out of the muscle buster. This leads to the finish where Jordynne plants Tasha head first into the mat for the win. Scary spot and the ref throws up the X afterwards so I hope she is okay. This was the best of the three knockouts matches tonight.
Match rating - ***1/4
8) Josh Alexander (c) vs. Joe Doering - IMPACT World Title Match
This is Alexander’s first defense since winning the Impact World Title. He is more than deserving of that strap and I think Doering getting the first shot rules. He killed it in All Japan, but this is truthfully my first time seeing him wrestle a proper singles match in Impact. This was a definitely a Josh Alexander / IMPACT main event style match. Not that it’s a bad thing, it just kinda put a ceiling on it for me with that in mind. It’s a good big man vs big man match with Alexander almost feeling like the underdog due to Joe being much taller. Josh works good underneath so that was a fun formula, but really they just laid into one another and hit big stuff for nearfalls in the closing stretch, along with some teased interference. Very similar to the Knockouts title match. Alexander retains in 16 minutes.
Match rating - ***1/4
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