Impact Hard To Kill 2022: Top 3 Moments Of The Night
On Saturday, January 8th, Impact had their first big show of the new year. The show was headlined by Mickie James defending her Impact Knockouts Championship against Deonna Purrazzo in a Texas Deathmatch, and a triple threat match for the Impact World Championship between the champion Moose, W.Morrisey, and Matt Cardona.
The show featured surprises, big debuts, and overall a lot of incredible wrestling. Coming up with the top three moments for this show wasn’t easy. This was one of the greatest shows that Impact Wrestling greatest shows have ever put on. It was seriously that good.
Honorable Mention
We cannot leave out the first-ever Knockout’s Ultimate-X match. This was an absolute banger of a wrestling match and arguably one of the best opening matches to a pay-per-view in recent memory. The match featured six women, Tasha Steelz, Alisha Edwards, Chelsea Green, Jordynne Grace, Lady Frost, and Rosemary.
Tasha Steelz got the win in this match to ensure a future opportunity to a Knockouts Championship match. The match saw the women go all out for that opportunity. It even saw Lady Frost hit an incredible moonsault off the top of one of the pillars. Plus, it was also seeing an Ultimate-X match again. Highly recommend this match.
3. JONAH vs Josh Alexander
In what some may argue was the match of the night, JONAH and Josh Alexander absolutely tore the house down tonight. It was about as hard-hitting as it gets. These were two big men who really wanted to beat the hell out of each other, and they did a great job at telling that story.
There was an amazing spot in the match where Josh Alexander jumped from the ring over the guardrail onto JONAH. It was incredible seeing JONAH wrestle again and do what he does better than a lot of other people. In the end, it was Alexander who made JONAH tap out to an ankle lock after a grueling match.
2. Ring of Honor INVADES!
Tonight was very special for a number of reasons. One of those reasons was because Ring of Honor was at Impact, loud and proud. We saw an absolutely incredible match between Jon Gresham and Chris Sabin, for the Ring of Honor World Championship. This saw Gresham as victorious. We also saw a cameo by Ring of Honor Women’s Champion, Rok-C, during the main event.
However, arguably the biggest Ring of Honor moment of the night came unannounced. After the Hardcore War, which was another incredible match, both teams were exhausted and had trouble standing. OGK, Vincent, and PCO took that as the time to make themselves known and take out members of the Impact roster.
It was awesome to see OGK, and Vincent on the same page again, as well as see PCO again. The guy isn’t human. Before the show cuts to the backstage segment, we see Taven hold up one of the Impact Tag Team Championships. Things are only going to get more interesting from here. What a time to be a wrestling fan.
1. Mickie James Retains Impact Knockouts Championship In A Stellar Match
Mickie James main evented Hard To Kill with Deonna Purrazzo. They had a Texas Deathmatch to finally end their rivalry. This match was the epic conclusion to a months-long rivalry between the two women. They didn’t make it easy on themselves either.
These two women beat the hell out of each other for the Impact Knockouts Championship. We saw tables, chairs, a guitar, and even thumbtacks. This was the perfect way to end the rivalry, at least for now. Mickie James retained her Impact Knockouts Championship, but this is a much bigger deal.
With WWE’s Royal Rumble coming up, it was announced that the Impact Knockouts Champion, Mickie James would be in the Royal Rumble match. It is now also apparent that when she enters the ring, she will be wearing another companies championship belt. This is unheard of for WWE, but it’s going to be an incredible sight to see.
Tonight’s show was an absolute banger of a show. It featured debuts, incredible matches, and overall it just made me happy to be a professional wrestling fan. This was arguably one of Impact’s best shows in recent memory from top to bottom. There wasn’t a bad match on the card. Things are just heating up and with Ring of Honor now entering the fray, things will get mighty interesting.