IMPACT WRESTLING REBELLION 2023 HITS & MISSES 4/16: Main events hit, more

HEATH & RHYNO vs. CHAMPAGNE SINGH & SHERA-MINOR HIT

A decent match with a group of solid wrestlers, a nice warm up for the rest of the night. There were some chants of ECW for Rhyno at the beginning of the match, which gave a little bit of a hint on how the crowd was going to feel about the Hardcore War later in the night.

DEATH DOLLZ (Rosemary & Jessicka) vs. THE COVEN (Taylor Wilde & KiLynn King)- Knockouts Tag Title Match- Minor Hit

This was a solid match and continued the program between the Death Dollz and The Coven. Taylor Wilde and KiLynn King are starting to come together as a tag team, and are getting a little better with each match.

MOTOR CITY MACHINE GUNS (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) vs. BULLET CLUB (Ace Austin & Chris Bey)- Impact Tag Title Match- HIT

This was an amazing match with lots of double team maneuvers. The MCMG really showed their veteran status, and prevented Ace Austin and Chris Bey from getting to the belts several times, but ultimately the youth and innovation of Austin and Bey proved triumphant. They .

THE DESIGN (Deaner & Angels & Kon & Callihan) vs. JOE HENDRY & DIRTY DANGO & SANTINO MARELLA- MISS

Best described as The Design beats up comedy wrestlers. The teams were carried by Angels and Dirty Dango, but everyone got a little bit of action and spot light spots. However, we got the Callahan turning on The Design, which ultimately led to Santino Marella getting the win in front of a hometown crowd.

EDDIE EDWARDS (w/Alisha Edwards) vs. PCO- Last Rites Match-HIT

This was the match that I’ve been waiting for between these guys. PCO dislocated his shoulder and KEPT GOING, and jammed it back in using a ring post. The crowd was wildly behind PCO throughout the match, with as many insulting chants towards Eddie Edwards as I could think of.

TREY MIGUEL vs. MIKE BAILEY vs. JONATHAN GRESHAM- Three way elimination X-Division Title match- HIT

Strikes and flips. So many strikes and flips. This was a wildly entertaining match, and Try Miguel got a ton of really good innovative spots, even to how he eliminated Gresham. On any other given card, this would have been the top spot of a match, but on this loaded card, it came in a solid third.

Team Dreamer (Tommy Dreamer & Killer Kelly & Bhupinder Gujjar & Yuya Uemura) vs. Team Bully (Bully Ray & Masha Slamovich & Brian Meyers & Kenny King & Moose)- hardcore war match-HIT

This match was like getting funnel cake at a traveling carnival, you know that it is going to be garbage, but that’s the whole point. You like it BECAUSE it is garbage. If you are an old fan of ECW Dreamer and Bully, then you are going to grab the popcorn and sit back and enjoy. Just hardcore spot after hardcore spot. It even did some work to set up a potential feud between Killer Kelly and Masha Slamovich. I really hope this is the end of the Bully/Dreamer thing, because if it isn’t I’m afraid that I’ll be watching them in 2033 again.

KUSHIDA vs. STEVE MACLIN- World Title Match- HIT

I was surprised that they brought in Nick Aldis as a commentator for this match, but I am not surprised that he got signed. With Josh Alexander on injury, getting another World Title level signing makes sense. I did not like it when they cut back to the commentators’ table, though, because the action in the ring was so frantic. It was a very technically sound match that was really hard to take your eyes off of. Maclin kept doing a ton of cheap heat type moves, like when he disrespected the Canadian Flag. This was a star making performance for both of these men. It was a super intense match, where both men got to show off the strengths of their individual styles.

JORDYNNE GRACE vs. DEONNA PURRAZZO- Knockouts World Title Match- HIT

The call backs to the Grace and Purrazzo’s series in 2020 was very appropriate. These two have never had a match in front of a live audience, but this lively crowd was into it. Jordynne Grace came in extremely dominant throughout this match. Deonna though, was able to meet power with technique. Grace has seemed to have taken a bit from her recent bodybuilding wins, and had a little bit of a cockiness and theatricality that she really emphasized throughout the match. These two built up a fantastic match, that had some great emotional highs, and topped off with a sign of respect for Grace from Purrazzo,

FINAL THOUGHTS- HIT

This was a well paced card, with extremely strong performances with a little something for everyone. Just about every style of wrestling was represented. All three of the title matches were amazing, and both the World Title matches are extremely strong contenders for Match of the Year in their respective divisions. When people ask me why they should watch Impact, this is an excellent card to show them.

The only problem the show had was the bad audio when someone was addressing the crowd. Every other facet of production is amazing! The camera work is great and the set design is great, it’s just the audio. It seems like anytime that they turn on the audio for the live attendees, those of us at home have to listen to feed from the venue, instead of directly from the speaker’s microphone.

CATCH-UP: 4/16 IMPACT WRESTLING REBELLION PPV REPORT: Maclin vs. Kushida, Purrazzo vs. Grace