2022 has gotten off to a hot start with some notably entertaining events including WWE Day One, Wrestle Kingdom 16, and AEW Beach Break. Another company that has had an exciting start to the year, has been Impact Wrestling, kicking things off with Hard To Kill in January!
With Impact's No Surrender event headlined by the Team Impact vs Honor No More tag team match, the show is now officially in the books. Featuring 11 total matches, the show delivered some very entertaining bouts across the board, though some left a lot to be desired.
11 Tenille Dashwood vs Havok
After having their Knockouts Tag Team Championship Match against The IInspiration delayed, once again, The Influence featured on the kickoff with Tenille Dashwood taking on Havok in singles action. The match itself was nothing special, and featured a questionable booking decision with Havok pinning Tenille, the current number one contender to the tag titles.
For whatever it's worth, Havok looked fine in the short match, but the highlight was Madison Rayne at ringside attempting to exorcize Rosemary.
10 Matt Cardona vs Jordynne Grace (Digital Media Championship Match)
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After turning heel and stealing Jordynne Grace's Digital Media Championship, Cardona would step in the ring against the former champion here, in a rematch from a few weeks ago.
Cardona's heel shtick continues to be mindblowingly great across every promotion, and Grace shows extreme promise, but this was killed by a weak DQ finish that cut its momentum out from under itself.
9 Mickie James vs Tasha Steelz (Knockouts Championship Match)
After winning the Women's Ultimate X Match, Tasha Steelz finally got her Knockouts Championship Match against Mickie James. Prior to this match, Steelz has still been a mostly unproven singles star within Impact, but she held her own against the all-time-great that is Mickie James, so credit where credit is due.
As far as the actual match went, it was a standard title defense, with Mickie retaining. Tasha got to look good, but the bigger story is Chelsea Green's relationship with James. In the end, it was a predictable, somewhat lackluster match.
8 John Skyler vs Trey Miguel
Making his return to Impact for the first time since the Hard To Kill PPV, where he and Steve Maclin put on a hell of an X Division Championship Match, Trey Miguel wrestled pro-wrestling journeyman, John Skyler, on the No Surrender kickoff show.
While the venue was not totally filled up by this point, Miguel and Skyler put on a very fun match that saw the crowd give Miguel a great reaction upon his victory.
7 JONAH vs Black Taurus
Before this hoss fight even began, there was an interesting tidbit with commentary referring to Josh Alexander as a "former Impact Wrestling competitor" when speaking about his match against JONAH. Since arriving in Impact, JONAH has been on the receiving end of a big-time push. While the former NXT star is still quite good, and came out on top, it was Black Taurus who stood out the most in this match, with some extremely impressive offense for a man of his size.
This was a hoss battle through and through, and for fans of JONAH, you know what to expect. With Taurus being more niche, it's worth checking out, to see the lucha star in action.
6 Deonna Purrazzo vs Miranda Alize (AAA Reinas de Reinas Championship Match)
This match was noted as the "Champ, Champ Challenge" with Deonna Purrazzo currently holding the ROH Women's and the AAA Reina de Reinas Championships, with former ROH Star Miranda Alize making the challenge for just the Ring Of Honor Women's belt. Alize made a very good impression with the crowd and looked at home against Deonna, and while she would tap out to The Virtuosa, hopefully she sticks around in Impact Wrestling moving forward.
Outside of Impact Wrestling, Taya Valkyrie made her return to AAA during this show and became the number one contender to Purrazzo's AAA Championship, so Deonna's time as double champion may soon be up.
5 Good Brothers vs G.O.D. (Impact World Tag Team Championship Match)
After making their debut in Impact Wrestling, Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa quickly found themselves targeting their former Bullet Club brothers, the Good Brothers. This was the first meeting between G.O.D. & Good Brothers, and ended up exceeding expectations.
With neither team often providing great matches, this was one of the surprises of the night. Anderson and Tama were the MVPs of the match, but the bigger story coming out of this was Chris Bey and Jay White turning on G.O.D. to give Gallows & Anderson the victory. Bullet Club is probably not fine.
4 Moose vs W. Morrissey (Impact World Championship Match)
Since coming into impact, W. Morrissey has impressed and has even grown into a fan-favorite with the Impact faithful. Alternatively, since stealing his title from Josh Alexander, Moose has become one of the best heels in all wrestling. This started hot, with both men nailing their finishers out of the gate, and managed to keep a hard-hitting, fast pace for most of the match.
Other than a weirdly executed sequence involving limbs being somewhat under the ropes, this was a very, very solid hoss fight between two of Impact's top guys. Gone is Big Cass, Morrissey is here to stay.
3 X Division Championship Number One Contender 4-Way
The opening bout of No Surrender was exactly what it should have been, with this X Division 4-way between Ace Austin, Jake Something, Mike Bailey, and Bullet Club's Chris Bey. This was everything great about Impact's X Division and then some, with a highly energized pace and a captivated, loud crowd for the entirety of the match. It would not be fair to say one man stood out most, as all four men put on a spectacle of an opening match, though Jake Something came up victorious. For those who have not seen it, seek this match out.
It's also worth noting that both Chris Bey and Ace Austin had some of the best looking gear of anyone on the entire show, with Bey's bright orange standing out and Austin having a cool Mardi Gras-inspired look.
2 Jay White vs Eric Young
After making his AEW Rampage debut against Trent the night before, King Switch found himself facing off against the leader of Violent By Design, Eric Young. While many might not find Young to be the most exciting wrestler, he is a proven ring general and strong veteran talent.
The Switchblade came out victorious against the VBD leader in his first singles match within Impact, and it has to be said that this first-time ever meeting between the two was a fantastic match. White continues to show why he is one of the best in the world, and Young got his best match in some time.
1 Honor No More vs Team Impact Wrestling
In a somewhat surprising turn, Impact opted to feature this 10-man tag match in the main event in place of the World Championship match. Honor No More, led by Maria Kanellis and made up of Kenny King, Vincent, PCO, Matt Taven, and Mike Bennett took on Team Impact, Rhyno, Willie Mack, Rich Swann, Steve Maclin and Chris Sabin.
This was a bit of a mess, but it flew by and deserved the main event slot. The crowd was extremely into this, and the 10 men involved all worked perfectly together. While White vs Young was the better wrestling match, this stole the show in terms of entertainment value. It also featured a major angle, with Eddie Edwards turning heel and aligning with Honor No More, brutalizing Team Impact to give the former Ring of Honor stars the victory in the main event.