As we come to the final weeks of 2022, now seems to be a good time for reflection when it comes to Impact Wrestling over the last 12 months and this could best seen through the big four pay per views that took place this year: Hard To Kill, Rebellion, Slammiversary and Bound For Glory.
As you can imagine this will be an opinion piece on my end as I’ll be going over the highs and lows of each major PPV that took place under the Impact Wrestling banner; I’m excluding the Impact Plus Specials as that’s a list for another day…With that all said, here are every Impact Wrestling 2022 PPV ranked from worse to best.
#4. Rebellion
The fourth annual Impact Wrestling Rebellion PPV was certainly something of a mixed bag for many fans due in large part to some pacing issues with some of the matches and the lack of surprise debuts or returns made the show feel flat…that said, the show from top to bottom wasn’t completely a dull affair.
After the two preshow matches which saw Eddie Edwards defeating Chris Bey and The Influence retaining their Knockouts Tag Titles against The IInspiration (in what would be the latter’s final pro wrestling match), the show kicked off with a face painted Steve Maclin picking up a major win in a three way match against Chris Sabin and Bullet Club leader, Jay White.
New champions were crowned in the next two matches as a returning Taya Valkyrie defeated Deonna Purrazzo for the AAA Reina De Reinas Championship and Ace Austin shocked everyone by escaping the triple threat match with Trey Miguel and ‘Speedball‘ Mike Bailey as the new X Division Champion.
NJPW’s own Tomohiro Ishii took on and defeated ‘The Top Dog‘ Jonah in a super competitive hoss fight, Violent By Design retained the World Tag Team Titles in the eight person tag team challenge match and Tasha Steelz (decked out in an outfit inspired by the Lion King) successfully retained her Knockouts Title against Rosemary.
The main event saw Josh Alexander challenging Moose for the Impact World Championship after a six month emotional build with the match seeing both men enduring a physical amount of pain throughout before ‘The Walking Weapon’ dropped Moose on his head with the C4 Spike finisher culminating in Josh Alexander becoming a two time Impact World Heavyweight Champion.
While some matches like Valkyrie vs. Purrazzo, the Eight Person Tag Challenge and Steelz vs. Rosemany were okay at best to a bit underwhelming, the event was still a good 2-3 hours of wrestling to watch.
#3. Slammiversary
At first glance, you’d think Slammiversary 2022 would easily be somewhere near or at the number one spot as it’s the 20th anniversary of Impact Wrestling’s existence and it also provided fans a number of returns, gimmick matches and great action taking center stage on this show…So why isn’t this the case?
For starters, the marketing was lackluster even from some of the most hardcore fans as evident by the fact this was the first PPV since Redemption 2018 to not be a sell out. Secondly the card itself was okay, but aside from the gimmick matches everything else looked like something that could’ve taken place on a episode of Impact or a monthly special…Not one of the major PPV’s.
Okay so those are the biggest criticisms myself and many others have had about Slammiversary, but how was the show itself?
Aside from Rich Swann defeating Brian Myers in a servable match to remain the Impact Digital Media Champion and Sharkboy won the infamously so bad it’s good Reverse Battle Royal on the preshow, the event was basically a night of new champions crowned as ‘Speedball‘ Mike Bailey defeated the likes of Trey Miguel, Ace Austin, Alex Zanye and last minute replacement Andrew Everett in an Ultimate X to become the new X Division Champion and the makeshift team of Taya Valykrie and Rosemary pulled off the upset to become the new Knockouts Tag Team Champions.
Sami Callihan and Moose pulled out all the stops when it came to their Monster’s Ball match with ‘The Death Machine‘ coming out on top, the Good Brothers defeated the Briscoes to become the Impact Tag Team Champions once again before James Storm and Chris Harris came out to propose a toast celebrating 20 years of Impact’s history.
The 10 man tag team match between Honor No More versus the Impact Originals aka The Motor City Machine Guns, Nick Aldis, Kazarian and a returning Davey Richards can best be described as overbooked, silly nonsense that you either loved or hated.
Jordynne Grace continued the trend of new champions by winning the Knockouts Championship in the first ever Queen of the Mountain Match and the main event saw Josh Alexander beat Eric Young to retain the Impact World Championship
The disappointing hype, so-so line up for the card and the clunky final moments of the Queen of the Mountain match are the only things that keep Slammiversary from going any higher on this list, however the special guest cameos of Goldy Locks, Scott Hudson, Dixie Carter, Sting, Kurt Angle, AJ Styles and the action within the Ultimate X, Monster’s Ball Match and parts of the Queen of the Mountain match are the real highlights of the show.
#2. Bound For Glory
BFG 2022 was already shaping up to an impressive show, not only because of the matches on the card but that fact the hype for this event was better than that of Slammiversary months prior.
When it comes to the actual event…Brian Myers retained his Digital Media Championship over a debuting Dirty Dango aka the former Fandango in the WWE and former NWA Champion and TNA Legend, Raven was inducted into the Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame and he even manage to hit his signature Even Flow DDT on his old rival, Tommy Dreamer on the preshow.
Things kicked off quite nicely with TNA legend Frankie Kazarian pulling the upset victory over ‘Speedball‘ Mike Bailey to become the new X Division Champion and Mickie James continued her in-ring career by beating (and at one point even kissing) former Knockouts champion, Mia Yim in what would be her last match with the company.
Tag team action was up next as Taya Valkyrie and Jessicka of the Death Dolls defeated the team of Chelsea Green and Deonna Purrazzo aka VXT to win the Knockouts Tag Team Titles and Honor No More’s Matt Taven and Mike Bennett escaped with their Impact World Tag Team Titles over the Motor City Machine Guns.
Then came the Call Your Shot Gaunlet match which saw names like PCO, Killer Kelly, Moose, Rich Swann, Steve Maclin, Gisele Shaw and Bobby Fish take part but also saw the returns of Joe Hendry, Tommy Dreamer, Taylor Wilde, Rhino, Matt Cardona and eventual winner Bully Ray.
Jordynne Grace and Masha Slamovich faced off in a highly anticipated one-on-one contest for the Knockouts World Championship and Josh Alexander defended his Impact World Heavyweight Championship against Eddie Edwards with both bouts easily being the best matches on the card if not some of the best matches Impact has produced in 2022 which is really saying something.
While news that Mia Yim and many members of Honor No More would be leaving the company not long after this show did deflat some fans, the event itself is undoubtably one of the best BFG events Impact Wrestling has had for some time…But despite all of this, there’s just one more pay per view that managed to outperform the rest in almost every way imaginable.
#1. Hard To Kill
If you’ve been watching or keeping up with Impact Wrestling this entire year then this shouldn’t come as a big surprise.
A lot of things were going on heading into this pay per view, not the least of which was the news surrounding the card itself and the announcement on Smackdown just 24 hours earlier that Mickie James (who was the Knockouts World Champion) would be taking part in that year’s Women’s Royal Rumble which gave way to much publicity surrounding Impact Wrestling and the Hard To Kill PPV for several days.
The two pre-show matches saw Jake Something being moved from a fatal four way to successfully pinning Madman Fulton in singles competition while the recently signed ‘Speedball‘ Mike Bailey would take Jake’s place in the four way and defeated Laredo Kid, Chris Bey and Ace Austin.
Things officially kicked off with the first ever all females Ultimate X match which saw Chelsea Green, Rosemary, Tasha Steelz, Jordynne Grace, Lady Frost and Alisha Edwards putting it all on the line in a match that really demonstrated how impressive the Knockouts division is while also giving Steelz one of the most high profiled wins of her entire career.
Trey Miguel retained his X Division Title in a very emotional contest against Steve Maclin and handing the former WWE star his first pinfall loss in Impact; Johnathan Gresham defended his Ring Of Honor World Title in a Pure Rules match against Chris Sabin and the first ever encounter between Josh Alexander and Jonah was an instant classic which saw ‘The Walking Weapon‘ coming out on top.
The Hardcore War between Rhino, Eddie Edwards, Rich Swann, Willie Mack and Heath vs. Violent By Design and the Good Brothers was awesome and the debut of Impact’s newest faction: Honor No More was just as incredible as it was news worthy.
Moose retained his Impact World Championship in an okay-ish three way match involving Matt Cardona and W. Morrissey which saw a lot of screwy finishes and ref bumps along the way and the main event saw Mickie James retain her Knockouts World Championship against Deonna Purrazzo in the first ever Knockouts Texas Death match which saw a bloody but violent display from both ladies involved.
With the hype, in-ring action and the ruckus crowd in Dallas Texas, it’s safe to say that if Impact wanted to start off 2022 on the right foot, they certainly succeeded.
And that concludes today’s list, Do you agree or disagree with my rankings? Which Impact pay-per-view from 2022 was your favorite or least favorite?
Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section and click the website link below for more wrestling related content:
Lace ‘Em Up | Lace ‘Em Up (baminreallife.com)
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