Tonight's Impact on AXS TV will be headlined by World and Knockouts Tag Team title matches.

Impact World titleholder Steve Maclin will defend his gold for the first time against Rhino following the events of last Thursday's trios match. The winner will defend against PCO at this month's Under Siege.

Impact Knockouts Tag Team Champions The Coven (KiLynn King & Taylor Wilde) will defend against the star studded team of Jordynne Grace & Deonna Purrazzo. Grace and Purrazzo will square off at Under Siege for Purrazzo's Knockouts Championship.

In a clash of would-be title contenders, Masha Slamovich will go one-on-one with Killer Kelly.

Nick Aldis will have his first singles match in the company in six years when he faces Sheldon Jean.

The Good Hands (John Skyler & Jason Hotch) will face Decay (Crazzy Steve & Black Taurus) with both in search of a desperately needed win.

The show will also feature the third installment of an interview series with Frankie Kazarian.

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Ace Austin defeated Zicky Dice

In a good match, Ace Austin got the win after the fold for a 3-count. Gia Miller was hilarious on commentary during this match.

Main Show

Impact opened with a recap of the much-hyped debut of Trinity, and a recap of Rhino’s career leading into his title match tonight. This was fantastic as a reminder of why Rhino was a main event guy outside of WWE for so long.

Masha Slamovich defeated Killer Kelly

Great opening match between Slamovich and Kelly, and despite the clean finish, there is more story to tell here with Kelly holding the submission on. This was a clever way to keep the feud going, and will hopefully lead to more great matches.

Killer Kelly and Slamovich went to the floor quickly, before returning to the ring so Kelly could hit a stalling fisherman’s buster for a 2-count. Slamovich slipped outside the ring and caught Kelly in an electric chair drop that drove Kelly into the apron. Slamovich hit a boot scrap kick to the face of Kelly as she was against the bottom turnbuckle.

Slamovich put a camel clutch on Kelly and then bit Kelly’s forehead instead. Slamovich hit a spinning backfist and a high kick to drop Kelly. Slamovich went for a sleeper, but Kelly drove Slamovich backwards and then hit a tiger suplex into the corner. Kelly hit a German suplex for a 2-count.

Kelly tried for a Killer clutch, but Slamovich countered. Slamovich picked up Kelly and hit a sunset driver for a 2-count. Kelly countered a snow plough and hit a Death Valley Driver for a 2-count. Kelly then locked on the Killer Clutch. Slamovich ran up the ropes and jumped backwards into the Bret Hart/Piper pin finish. Kelly held the submission on despite being pinned, and Slamovich passed out.

–Sheldon Jean was preparing for his match with Nick Aldis, and Kenny King walked up and told him that he had to do what it took to win tonight, encouraging him to choose himself instead of doing the right thing.

–Trinity was with Gia Miller backstage, and talked about her debut last week. Jai Vidal walked up and marked out, asking for a selfie with her. Trinity obliged and then asked Miller “Who was that?” Miller said, “That’s Jai. He works here.” I laughed.

Nick Aldis defeated Sheldon Jean

Aldis got the right match to show he was back to make an impact in Impact.

Kenny King joined the announce table for this match.

Aldis hit a series of shoulder tackles at the start of the match, but as it went to the floor, Jean raked the eyes of Aldis and drove him into the ring post. It seems Jean took King’s advice to heart. Once they got back into the ring, Aldis as able to hit two hard clotheslines and Michinoku driver for a 2-count. Jean tried to cut Aldis off as he went to the top rope, but Aldis shoved him off and hit a flying elbow before locking on the Kingsland Cloverleaf for the submission.

–Dango & Joe Hendry were backstage investigating who attacked Santino and Hendry called Zicky Dice & Johnny Swinger. Hendry said that they were here to answer for their crimes, and Swinger announced “Hey! It wasn’t me doing gimmicks with Sheiky!” and I nearly died laughing. Hendry accused Swinger and Dice of taking out Santino. Swinger was greatly offended. Dango called Santino and got him to book a match against Swinger tonight. Dango then invited Joe Hendry to his birthday, and Hendry kindly said yes, despite being the only guest, looking like he didn’t want to go.

–The 3rd part of Frankie Kazarian’s interview with Gia Miller, and he talked about how the world title is his ultimate goal because his loss against Josh Alexander was eating away at him, but if he saw a fight worth fighting, he was going to stand shoulder to shoulder with anyone that needed help.

The Good Hands (Jason Hotch & John Skylar) defeated The Decay (Crazzy Steve & Black Taurus)

The Good Hands got the heat on Steve almost immediately in this match. Steve bit the Good Hands… good hands, and hit a flatliner on Skylar before making a tag to Taurus. As Taurus was tagged in, Hotch tagged in and Brian Myers made his way down to ringside. Taurus hit an awesome pop-up Samoan drop on Hotch, but Skylar made the save.

Steve hit a plancha on Skylar and then started to argue with Myers. Myers attacked Steve on the floor, and Taurus went after him. This led Myers to hitting a stunner across the top rope and then a combo fireman’s carry blockbuster from The Good Hands for the three. Myers then posed with The Good Hands, apparently adopting them after Bully Ray’s defeat at the last PPV.

–Steve Maclin was backstage with Shera and Champange Singh, and Maclin said because they failed him, their business relationship is over. Singh said that he couldn’t let this slip through his fingers, so he had an idea to salvage the relationship.

–As they came back from break Singh and Shera attacked Heath backstage and left him lying just before Rhino’s match with Maclin.

Impact World Champion Steve Maclin defeated Rhino

There was nothing to this match, but it was actually went pretty much exactly as it should have with where both guys are on the roster right now. Maclin looked like a killer in this match, and this helped establish him as a serious threat to anyone he faces, along with showing how violent he can be with the post match angle.

Rhino and Maclin brawled all over the ringside area, until Maclin started to focus on the left knee of Rhino. Rhino managed to cut Maclin off as he was on the ropes and hit a superplex for a 2-count. Maclin went for the KIA, but Rhino countered into a spinebuster for another 2-count. Rhino went for the gore, but was unable to run due to the attack on the knee, and Maclin hit a chop block and a gore of his own for the win.

–Maclin continued to attack the knee of Rhino, wrapping it in a chair and slamming a shovel into the knee repeatedly. Rhino was carried out on stretcher.

–Scott D’Amore went to see Rhino off, and Maclin walked up and said it was his fault. D’Amore then made the match against PCO at Under Siege a no DQ match. PCO then emerged from the ambulance as Maclin went to do more damage to Rhino, and PCO chased him off.

–Joe Hendry cut a promo about his broken nose (from his match with Sheldon Jean) and how Dango was going to win tonight as they got to the bottom of what happened to Santino.

Dirty Dango defeated Johnny Swinger (w/ Zicky Dice)

Dirty Dango caught a stomp from Swinger before standing up and hitting a falcon arrow for the pinfall.

–Deaner and The Design were backstage, and Deaner accused Sami Callihan of having no one to back him, not even Rich Swann, and his Army of Violence were there to defend him. Suddenly two people in the army started attacking everyone else and Deaner, Kon, and Angels stepped aside. It was Swann and Callihan. For some reason this promo had a soundtrack and turned from scary music to happy rock as the babyfaces attacked. This broke into an all out brawl with security trying break them up.

–Moose asked Brian Myers why he was taking on the Good Hands because he and Myers should have been focusing on the tag titles. Myers said that Moose was focusing on both the world title and tag titles, so he could focus on the tag titles and mentoring the Good Hands before promising the Good Hands that he’d take them to the tag titles.

–Kevin Kelly hyped up NJPW on AXS, highlighting Hiromu Takahashi vs. SANADA for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, and KENTA vs. Hikuleo for the NJPW Strong Championship.

Impact Knockouts Tag Team Champions The Coven (Taylor Wilde & KiLynn King) defeated Deonna Purrazzo & Jordynne Grace to retain

This was fine, but not a great match. Wilde and King haven’t quite gelled as a team yet, but they are clearly trying to make it work in the ring. I think given time, they could become a good tag team. The gimmick isn’t great at all, but at least they’re trying to make the tag team work.

Purrazzo and Grace had the advantage early on, but The Coven were able to get some heat on Grace after a kick from King and an elbow drop from Wilde. Even with Purrazzo tagging in, the champs were able to continue to double team, maintaining their advantage. The announcers asked if Purrazzo and Grace could compete with the well oiled teamwork of King and Wilde, who have teamed together around 4 or 5 times.

I’m fairly certain that is not well oiled. Grace and Purrazzo may have actually teamed more already in Impact! The Coven continued to cheat, choking Purrazzo on the ropes, distracting the referee, and maintaining the offence. Purrazzo managed to twist the arms of Wilde and King and slammed them into each other face first, leading to tagging out to Grace. Grace hit a spinebuster on King and a jackhammer on Wilde for a 2-count.

Grace dumped Wilde to the floor, and Wilde crashed tailbone first to the floor. That had to suck. Wilde and King then hit caught Grace on a dropkick attempt and powerbombed Grace on the apron. Wilde went for a suplex, but Grace fought out and hit a muscle buster on Wilde for a 2-count that King broke up. King pulled Purrazzo to the floor and as Grace tried to hit the ropes, Purrazzo got knocked off the apron after just getting onto it. Grace then tried to hit the Grace driver, but King broke it up and Wilde and King hit a combo spinebuster and pump kick for the win.

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–The Coven continued to attack Grace and Purrazzo after the match, leading to Trinity running down to make the save. Trinity cleared the ring, hitting a rear view on King before eyeing both Grace and Purrazzo as the show went off the air.

Final Thoughts

I thought this was a very good episode of Impact this week. The angles were good, the matches were good, and Under Siege was built quite well. I can’t ask for more than that.

Impact Wrestling Card – May 18, 2023

· Trey Miguel vs. Laredo Kid

· Moose, Eddie Edwards, & Frankie Kazarian vs. Jonathan Gresham, Yuya Uemura, & Alex Shelley

Impact Under Siege Card – May 26, 2023

· Impact World Championship: Steve Maclin (c) vs. PCO in a No DQ Match

· Impact Knockouts World Championship: Deonna Purrazzo (c) vs. Jordynne Grace

· Impact X-Division Championship: Trey Miguel (c) vs. Chris Sabin

· #1 Contenders Match: Moose vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Jonathan Gresham vs. Yuya Uemura vs. Alex Shelley vs. Frankie Kazarian

Kenny King vs. Nick Aldis