After hosting a number of PPVs and specials in rapid succession, Impact Wrestling had some time off before coming back with August 12th's Emergence show from Chicago, headlined by a massive Impact World Championship match with Josh Alexander defending his title against Alex Shelley.

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While some of the Impact Plus shows featuring very short builds, with the time in between this show and Against All Odds, Impact was able to put together quite a strong card with a number of well-built matches, including VXT vs Rosemary and Taya, Sami Callihan vs Steve Maclin, Honor No More vs Bullet Club, and Jordynne Grace vs Mia Yim!

9 Digital Media Championship Match

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Kicking off the Countdown To Emergence pre-show, Brian Myers would kick off the event by running down the Chicago crowd before defending the Digital Media Championship against upstart Bhupinder Gujjar. While this would be a perfectly fine match in terms of the actual wrestling, by the time this match started, it felt as if the fans were still getting to their seats with a severe lack of care for this match.

Brian Myers would retain the belt after sending Bhupinder head first into an exposed turnbuckle, scoring a roll-up while also holding the tights, thus ending Gujjar's undefeated streak in Impact Wrestling.

8 Knockouts Tag Team Championship Match

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The second championship match during the Countdown to Emergence, Rosemary and Taya would put the Knockouts Tag Team Championship belts on the line against the recently-formed VXT tag-team of Chelsea Green and Deonna Purrazzo. Out of the gate, Purrazzo and Green would steal the pre-show with some incredible matching red and gold gear.

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While overall the crowd was better for this than the Digital Media Championship, they still remained fairly muted compared to some recent Impact audiences, though there was a brief "That was Sick" chant at one point. Thanks to Rosemary hitting Taya with the mist on accident, a double-team suplex from VXT would seal the match, with Purrazzo and Green now holding Knockouts Tag Team Gold. This was good, but with several awkward moments, it failed to reach being great.

7 Steve Maclin vs Sami Callihan

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In the strangest decision, Callihan and Maclin would brawl to the outside after a ref bump before the bell, heading backstage before the rest of the show would continue. Later on, the two would brawl during a Kenny King promo and would show up even later during an interview with Moose, as Maclin and Moose would beat up Sami back by the ring before Scott D'Amore would arrive to ban Moose from ringside and make it a No DQ Match.

Once this match actually happened, Maclin and Sami would go to absolute war with some brutal violence that would see Callihan score the victory after repeatedly stomping on the nether regions of Steve Maclin, allowing him to spike Maclin with a Cradle Piledriver to cap off a ruthless match.

6 Violent By Design vs KUSHIDA & Chris Sabin

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Starting after the Maclin/Callihan nonsense, Chris Sabin and KUSHIDA would team-up to take on Violent By Designs's Eric Young and Deaner in a high-profile tag-team match. Mileage may vary when it comes to VBD as a group, but despite his age, Eric Young remains consistent as ever with his in-ring performances, so when placed against a team the caliber of KUSHIDA and Sabin, there was no way this would be bad.

Thanks to the numbers advantage with Violent By Design, with a major assist from Joe Doering, Eric Young would score the win for his team with a Piledriver onto Chris Sabin, ending a very solid match.

5 X Division Championship Match

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Kicking things off on the main show, Mike Bailey would look to continue his impressive run as X Division Champion as he would defend his belt against the man that had to get pulled from Ultimate X at Slammiversary, Jack Evans. Coming off of an underwhelming run in AEW, Evans would look to taste success in the Impact brand.

As if a switch was turned on during the few minutes between the pre-show and the main card, the Chicago crowd would be significantly more receptive for this match, with both Bailey and Evans' offense getting strong reactions from the crowd, even getting a dueling "Old Champ, New Champ" chant at one point. As expected when it comes to Mike Bailey's title defenses, this was a very, very strong match with it seeing Bailey and Evans going blow for blow, strike for strike, in a high-octane X Division Championship Match. Ultimate Weapon would secure the victory, with Mike Bailey retaining in a great opening match!

4 Honor No More vs Bullet Club, No Disqualification

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Definitively the longest running feud in Impact Wrestling, Honor No More and Bullet Club would face off in a multi-man match once again during Emergence, with this program having gotten started back in March. 5 months later, this bout would see the added stipulation of Honor No More being forced to disband if they were to be defeated by the Bullet Club team.

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For the entirety of this carnage-filled match, the crowd would be fully into it, chanting and cheering for both teams, and it felt earned. Despite this being questionably-paced, both teams worked hard and delivered some insane spots, with PCO killing himself by falling off of a railing through a table, Vincent hitting his finisher off the top rope and through a table on the floor, and Doc Gallows eating The Climax head first onto a trash can. OGK would pin Gallows after an all-out assault to end this crazy affair, with the duo earning an Impact Tag Team Championship Match and saving Honor No More's Impact career.

3 Rey Horus vs Bandido

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Being dubbed a AAA Special Attraction Match, Bandido and Rey Horus would get to go head-to-head in a big-time singles match in the middle of Emergence. Despite a lack of story or build, Horus and Bandido would deliber a ridiculous match that got the crowd firmly invested throughout thanks to the two having great chemistry and performing some amazing lucha-style wrestling.

With chants of "Fight Forever" the two AAA superstars would make very solid claims as to why they deserve to be recognized more, with both men already set to appear within Impact Wrestling somewhat regularly moving forward. In the end, Bandido would get the victory via the always-impressive 21-Plex, ending what can only be described as a must-see match.

2 Knockouts Championship Match

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Scoring the semi-main event slot on Emergence, Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace would defend her belt against her sort-of partner, Mia Yim, who was looking to capitalize on her momentum after returning to the company earlier this year. With this being Mia's first singles shot for this belt since 2017, the HBIC of Impact Wrestling was out to prove a point against Grace.

Somewhat surpisingly, despite this match taking place immediately after the long, crazy No DQ matches between Callihan & Maclin and Honor No More vs Bullet Club, the Chicago crowd on hand for the show would be fully alive for this entire match, showering Yim and Grace with support and respect throughout their title clash. Some big nearfalls towards the end with Grace's Muscle Buster and Yim's Avalanche Code Blue set up a strong finish, as Grace would counter the Protect Ya Neck Piledriver with the Grace Driver to retain her title in another great match!

1 Impact World Championship Match

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Closing out the event, Josh Alexander would defend against one of the stars on the current Impact roster who has ties to almost every era of the company, in the form of Motor City Machine Gun's Alex Shelley, who would be challenging for the Impact World Championship for the first time in his 20+ career within the company.

Alexander and Shelley would have the crowd eating out of their palms here, with their offense connecting to great effect, and with the audience being split between the two men, as Josh has become the guy for Impact while Shelley remains onf of the most beloved babyfaces in Impact's history. Shelley would wrestle a very methodical match, using his physical therapy background to dismantle the champion, as he would look for submissions to break down Alexander. The closing moments of this would be incredible, with Shelley coming so close with three Shell Shocks, and Alexander countering a Sliced Bread into a jumping Tombstone before ending Shelley's hopes with the C4 Spike. These two delivered an incredibly thrilling main event.