IMPACT Wrestling Hard to Kill Honest Review

This past weekend was a big one for the world of professional wrestling once again with both NXT UK Takeover and IMPACT’S Hard to Kill event both taking place on Saturday. IMPACT Wrestling’s first LIVE special of the year saw a historic main event dominate the evening along with several awesome bouts throughout and today we are going to be taking a look back this IMPACT show and discussing the best and worse moments and what made this such a must-see show.

A New Side to Madman Fulton

The opening contest was an interesting one. While I had no interest in the build nor the story heading into Madman Fulton vs Ken Shamrock the two provided a solid opening contest. I’ll admit that I personally wasn’t expecting all too much from this opening bout and so I was surprised at just how much I did enjoy this one on one between two intense performers. What was so interesting about this bout was how we saw a completely different side to Fulton. Fans are used to seeing a completely dominant performance from the monster of OvE using his power to his full advantage but this time around we really saw him punish Shamrock and use submission and his amateur wrestling background which was truly very different to what we usually see from him. Now, Fulton didn’t pick up the win here which again came as a surprise, but he did have arguably his best performance to date and seeing that new side of his skillset was very interesting indeed.

X Division Title Match

For weeks we have seen Ace Austin do what he does best, get in the mind of his future opponent and act like a total sexual predator making advances towards Tre’s mother. This past Sunday the two men came face to face in an X Division Championship bout which really did showcase the athletic skills of both men. There was a basic build with a simple story behind this bout and having Tre’s mum at ringside was a nice little touch to the match and the story. The action itself was as fast-paced as could have been expected. We didn’t see anything truly standout out of special, but this was a great match between two rather similar in-ring competitors and two very young talents with a bright future ahead of them. No title change as was expected but a strong singles showing from Tre which is important.

Powerhouse Triple Threat

This past Sunday saw the IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts championship defended in triple threat competition with Taya defending the title against both ODB and Jordynne Grace. When you look at the history of the knockouts division there is no denying these three women are some of the most dominant and powerful women in the division's history so you really were expecting something pretty explosive between these women. Now, of course they all had that power and strength, but each woman brought something different to this match whether it be the character of Taya, the experience of ODB or the athleticism of Grace. The match was pretty slow-paced and again there weren’t many standout spots or much that made this match special but the backstory, the power displays and Grace’s standout performance, in particular, must be noted. There was again no title change here and Taya’s very impressive reign continues.

A Strong Night for RVD

Sunday night was a very strong night indeed for RVD who after taking out Brian Cage in a brutal beatdown he went on to score a win over Daga. The booking here was a little all over the place but I did like how RVD was used during the show and how he came across. He appeared as one of the strongest heels on the roster today and the dominant showing was rather unexpected but very impressive and a cool little addition to the show.

One of the Standouts

One of the standouts matches of the Hard to Kill event this past Sunday was the one on one collision between Michael Elgin and Eddie Edwards. These are two intense performers who defiantly have their differences in terms of styles and personalities. I’ll admit that again I wasn’t super excited for this bout, I’m not an Elgin fan at all but his in-ring talents just cannot be denied and this was yet another brilliant match from the controversial Michael Elgin. Eddie Edwards also had a fantastic showing this weekend and was the man who did, in fact, walk away with the win here after several close calls. This was by far one of the best matches of the night and both men had a brilliant all-round performance despite the story not being as strong as some of the other bouts of the evening.

Willie Mack Goes at It Alone

After Rich Swann suffered an injury during last week's episode of IMPACT Willie Mack was left to go at it for the tag team titles alone against The North. With the odds stacked against him in this two on one match up the crowd were really pulling for a Mack to take the win here. Throughout the bout, the North, of course, had the advantage and used the numbers to dominate but Mack is a fighter and one heck of an athlete and really gave the tag team champs a run for their money while going at me alone. We really got to see just how much of an incredible talent Mack is and he really did come so close so many times during this match but the North were able to retain their titles and have another great showing as one of the strongest teams on the roster today. This match really kept me entertained and the hope we could see a shock win here kept me on the edge of my seat and totally gripped but I wasn’t surprised to see the titles not change hands here.

The Main Event

Despite the controversy surrounding Tessa Blanchard recently I was still very excited for this match. Blanchard vs Callihan was the match of the night, it was the bout we were all excited for and the main reason I tuned into the show in the first place. These two talents are standouts of this generation in pro wrestling and they haven’t once delivered a bad match. What Blanchard has done for women’s wrestling and what these two together have done for intergender competition is something that cannot be taken away and the importance of their rivalry will play a huge part in history for many many years to come.

As two incredible wrestlers, this match really wasn’t about woman vs man and intergender competition, this match was about two fantastic athletes doing what the do best and providing an early match of the year candidate. Callihan was more ruthless than we have seen him in a while and targeting the knees/legs of Tessa was a smart move from the get-go. Sami wasted no time trying to take out Tessa but the fight in the former Knockouts champion was undeniable. The emotion from Tessa was something else and the frustrations from Callihan was so clear, this was a match that genuinely has everyone griped and the atmosphere in the building was completely different to what we had seen during any other match during the evening. The passion, the energy, the determination in this match was just incredible and you really could not predict who would walk out the victor. This was by far one of the best matches I’ve seen this month and for sure a match of the year candidate and seeing Blanchard make history by becoming the first woman to ever win the IMPACT Championship was not only a historic moment for Blanchard and the company but pro wrestling and raised the bar in terms of women’s competition and the boundaries in the industry today.

IMPACT Wrestling proved a major point this past weekend. There is a place for intergender wrestling today. Taking gender out of the picture this shouldn’t even be a debate, two amazing wrestlers regardless can put on an incredible and believable bout and what Callihan and Blanchard brought to the table is simply history and so moving it genuinely made me cry.

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