Impact Wrestling: Ranking Every Pay Per View of 2018

With Impact Wrestling gearing up for the new year and most importantly for Homecoming, it’s time to take a look back at what they’ve done in 2018. While there were only three Impact Wrestling pay-per-view events in 2018, each one contained something unforgettable, but which one stood as Impact’s best of 2018?

Before we get to which Impact Wrestling pay-per-view ranked best in 2018, we’ve got good news for an UK fans of Impact Wrestling. In celebration of a channel change, Fight Network UK is going to be airing all three of Impact Wrestling’s 2018 pay-per-view events over the next month. Per Fight Network’s press release:

"Fight Network UK broadcasts on Showcase TV starting from 9pm every night. This PPV giveaway is to celebrates the upgrade in Fight Network UK’s position on the SKY EPG and its return to Freesat. Fans in Britain and Ireland can watch Fight Network UK on SKY channel 192 and Freesat channel 161 from Monday January 7, 2019. Until then it can be viewed in its old home of Sky Channel 455. The broadcast dates of the IMPACT Wrestling events on Fight Network UK are: Sunday December 30 at 11 p.m. – Redemption 2018 on Sky 455 Sunday January 6 at 11 p.m. – Slammiversary 2018 on Sky 455 Sunday January 20 at 11 p.m. – Bound for Glory 2018 on Sky 192 / Freesat 161"

The first two events will be available on Sky 455 prior to the change, while Impact’s biggest event of the year, Bound for Glory, will air after the channel change on Sky 192 and Freesat 161.

Before we get to Impact’s pay-per-view events, the nature of Impact Wrestling mandates mentioning their television specials. The shift to focusing more on the weekly show and not struggling to force 12 pay-per-view events in a single year has helped Impact through some struggles, and this year we saw a nice balance of great stuff in those specials and proper build to the big pay-per-view events.

Impact’s first special of the year was Genesis, which aired on PopTV back in January. At the time, Eli Drake was the reigning Impact Global Champion, and defended his title in a brutal Six-Sides of Steel Match against Alberto El Patron and Johnny Impact.

After several minutes of brutal action, it was an assist from Chris Adonis that helped Eli Drake escape with his championship. The night also featured one of EC3’s final matches before leaving Impact Wrestling. Long before his current move from NXT to WWE’s main roster, EC3 or Ethan Carter III was the reigning Impact Grand Champion and had to defend that title against one Matt Sydal.

As you can see, things didn’t end quite like EC3 intended. This also was the spark of a spectacular year for Matt Sydal, and it continued a few months later at Crossroads. In Impact’s second television special of the year, Grand Champion Matt Sydal took on X-Division Champion Taiji Ishimori with both titles on the line. What followed was a fast-paced aerial display of just what makes the X-Division so special.

Impact presented their third television special, Under Pressure, at the end of May and it was headlined by Pentagon Jr. defending the Impact World Championship against Grand Champion Austin Aries. Pentagon captured the World Title from Aries a month earlier at Redemption, an event we’ll discuss more later, but it was something much more unorthodox that stands out when looking back on Under Pressure. Allie channelled the darkness of Rosemary to defend her Knockouts Championship against Su Yung.

The fourth television special of the year was ReDefined which aired at the end of August, and it featured a very important moment when considering the future of Impact Wrestling. While the Knockouts Championship had spent much of the year embroiled in the rivalry between Su Yung, Rosemary, and Allie, 2018 saw the rise of a very special challenger in Tessa Blanchard.

The third-generation superstar may be only 23 years of age, but she’s already put all of Impact’s Knockouts Division on notice in her first year. She closes out 2018 as the Knockouts Champion, but it was at ReDefined where she captured that title.

Impact’s fifth and final television special of the year came last month with Final Hour. While the event was headlined by an intriguing match where Johnny Impact defended his title against Killer Kross. It was the first big showcase of what Kross can do, but it was Johnny who left with his title in hand.

However, with 2019 in mind, the only thing you need to remember about Final Hour is the Impact Wrestling debut of someone who will surely capture the Knockouts Championship in 2019, Jordynne Grace.