Written by Shining Polaris
Impact Wrestling made a huge announcement last night – the show will be moving to Thursday night starting on April 8, so they do not have to go up against NXT.
This episode announced a few matches for their next mini-PPV which is Hardcore Justice on April 10th. The main event match for last night’s Impact was James Storm Vs. Eric Young. This was Storm’s 1000th match. This episode was a mini celebration of that great feat. This article will focus on the crossover storyline between AEW/Impact/NJPW.
*** WARNING: This article contains spoilers for the
Impact Wrestling show from March 30th, 2021***
The episode started with Kenny Omega and Don Callis watching a video of Finjuice in one of their NJPW matches. After the match Finjuice showed off the Impact title belts they had won against The Good Brothers.
Shortly afterwards, Don made fun of the Good Brothers and said that Finjuice looked good with the belts. The Good Brothers then tried to play it off that they are not impressed, Don responded that Finjuice had the belts and not them. Callis then tried to get all of them to rewatch the Kenny Omega montage video. The Good Brothers’ whined and said no, then Don made it clear that this is the wrestling business, not the “friend business.” Now that they don’t have the belts, what have they done for him lately? Kenny Omega whispered something into his manager’s ear, who then told Anderson and Gallows. The Good Brothers then walked out of the room.
Swinger’s Palace, run by the sketchy Johnny Swinger, is an underground casino where wrestlers gamble and bet on matches. Don Callis took Kenny Omega to see this “freak show” where he asked Swinger if they are taking bets for the Omega Vs. Swann match at Rebellion and asked what the odds were. Swinger replied that it is 1:1, which Don didn’t like. He pulled out his phone and showed the Kenny Omega montage video, which impressed Swinger who said the odds are now in Kenny’s favor. Don made a bet for $20,000. Don and Kenny promptly left saying the place smelled, while Swinger and his gaming partner John E. Bravo celebrated.
Don Callis entered the break room and sat down with Willie Mack, Rich Swann’s best friend. He showed Willie the Kenny Omega montage video. Rich Swann then confronted Don and asked him why is he bothering his friends. Swann said if Don wasn’t his boss, he would slap him. Don responded by taking off his sunglasses and stating that they would fight for 10 minutes. As the two were about to swing at each other, Kenny Omega and the Good Brothers attacked Swann from behind. Then Eddie Edwards, former Impact World Champion and friend of Swann, made the odds even by jumping into the brawl. The Elite ran off as Swann and Edwards screamed at them to come back.
In this week’s episode, Don Callis made a more prominent appearance than he had in the past. He is slowly making his rounds to all the top wrestlers in Impact for possible future feuds. There are some hints that he is attempting to break up Kenny Omega and the Good Brothers. Don had already successfully gotten in-between Kenny and the Young Bucks. It seems that he is trying to isolate himself and Kenny at the top. He will have to work hard to break them up since all three will be in back-to-back trios tag matches on AEW and Impact.
This is the first time Impact has shown a full clip of NJPW. It was neat to hear the Japanese commentator promote Impact as well. This seems to have cemented the relationship between Impact and NJPW.
James Storm won against Eric Young in his 1000th match. He made a very heartfelt thank you to the late Bob Ryder, who passed away in November 2020. Ryder was a wrestling journalist and one of the founding members of Impact Wresting. Storm was surrounded by his new teammates Chris Sabin and Jake Something. His old tag team partner, Chris Harris “Wildcat” from their team of America’s Most Wanted, made a special appearance and they gave each other a very heartfelt embrace.
Also on this episode, one of the matches announced for Hardcore Justice is the Knockouts World Championship title match of Deonna Purazzo defending her title against Jazz. If Jazz loses, she will retire. Another match announced is the Knockouts Number One contender match. Whoever wins will get a shot at Rebellion for the Knockouts Championship.
Impact Wrestling
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