Impact Wrestling’s Rebellion took place last night and it was not at all disappointing. In truth it delivered on all fronts, with exciting matches and loads of title changes. The future looks bright for the promotion and dare I say it, it provided much more story line progression and excitement than WWE’s WrestleMania 38.
With the exception of 3 matches at Mania (Cody vs. Seth Rollins, Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch, and of course Kevin Owens vs. Steve Austin), the show lacked in content, especially the main even between Lesnar and Reigns, but perhaps that’s old news already.
But speaking of main events, the build (during the actual event and over the course of the weeks leading up to it) for the Impact World Heavyweight Championship was entertaining to say the least and the thing that was expected most ended up happening by the time the show ended last night, which is more than I can say about WWE’s Mania.
First off, as cultaholic.com reported, Jonathan Gresham did not compete. This was announced even before the show took place by Impact themselves. It was reported earlier by many news sources as the week progressed that Gresham was injured, but since he has signed with AEW, many are now wondering if his not appearing was about something else altogether.
Tony Khan’s relationship with Impact hasn’t been on the best terms dating back to Christian Cage’s last appearance for the promotion and the ‘Forbidden Door’ between the two companies seems to be closed. The Good Brothers even stopped appearing for AEW; they haven’t been seen in quite some time. Apparently their contracts with Impact are close to expiring as well, as the Wrestling Observer reports.
The only wrestlers partaking in that doorway are those specifically contracted by NJPW, so there seems to be no conflict of interest there, but we need to see if Gresham will make future appearances at Impact moving forward.
There is still the Women’s ROH Championship that Deonna Purrazzo holds, yet there is the added confusion of the Mercedes Martinez win and her current status as Interim ROH Women’s Champion.
Yes, the ROH stuff is still a tad confusing, but we assume Tony Khan is working all of that out. Hopefully though, I hope Deonna Purrazzo gets a chance to defend that title officially, as she’s been an epic champion and a former ROH wrestler to boot.
Let’s hope Impact and AEW can work something on that front and have Martinez face Purrazzo officially, even if she does come out on top…Purrazzo deserves that after her exemplary reign.
Rebellion…The Pre-Show
Eddie Edwards was to have faced Gresham, but since Gresham did not appear, Edwards faced Chris Bey. The winner: Eddie Edwards.
In the contest for the Knockouts World Tag Team Championships, The Influence (c) faced The IInspiration. Winners and still Knockouts World Tag Team Champions: The Influence.
Rebellion…Full Card Results
In the contest between Steve Maclin vs. Jay White vs. Chris Sabin, the winner: Steve Maclin.
In the contest for the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship between Deonna Purrazzo (c) vs. Taya Valkyrie, the winner and new AAA Reina de Reinas Champion: Taya Valkyrie.
In the contest for the X-Division Championship between Trey Miguel (c), Mike Bailey and Ace Austin, the winner and new X-Division Champion: Ace Austin.
In the contest between Jonah and Tomohiro Ishii, the winner: Tomohiro Ishii.
In the 8 Team Elimination Challenge, where the Impact World Tag Titles were on the line, Violent By Design retained, defending in an elimination style match these other teams—7 in all.
Eliminated first: Jordynne Grace & W. Morrissey, eliminated by The Major Players (Cardona and Myers).
Eliminated second: The Major Players, eliminated by The Good Brothers.
Eliminated Third: Johnny Swinger and Zicky Dice, eliminated by The Good brothers.
Eliminated Fourth: Rich Swann and Willie Mac, eliminated by The Good Brothers.
Eliminated Fifth: The Good Brothers, eliminated by Honor No More (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett).
Eliminated sixth: Honor No More, eliminated by Heath and Rhino.
Eliminated seventh: Heath and Rhino, eliminated by Violent By Design, so overall winners and still Impact World Tag Team Champions: Violent By Design.
In the contest for the Knockouts Championship pitting Tasha Steelz (c), vs. Rosemary, the winner and still Knockouts Champ: Tasha Steelz.
And in the main event, for the Impact World Championship pitting Moose vs. none other than the ‘Walking Weapon,’ Josh Alexander, the winner and new Impact World Champion: Josh Alexander.
So, as stated above, the event just gave and gave and gave. A lot of title changes took place, also as stated, which is more than can be seen at WWE, where titles seldom change hands these days. It was refreshing to see and with all of these new champions, Impact can now build fresh new stories, essentially preventing the product from being stale, again, which is more than I can say for WWE.
Congratulations to Impact Wrestling on a stellar event. Looking forward to Under Siege on May 7th, and of course Slammiversary on June 19th.
