Impact Wrestling
Against All Odds 2022
July 1, 2022
Center Stage
Atlanta, Georgia

Watch: FITE

Less than a fortnight after a brilliant Slammiversary show, Impact Wrestling hosts another live event this Friday (July 1) at Center Stage in Atlanta. In the main event, Josh Alexander defends his Impact World Championship against Joe Doering.

Countdown to Against All Odds
Laredo Kid vs Black Taurus

There’s no backstory to this one, it’s just a nice little singles match on the Youtube pre-show between two AAA guys that are Impact regulars.

It does seem, however, to be a vehicle to heat up one of them for an X-Division title challenge, potentially at the next live show in August. With that in mind, my instinct is that Black Taurus goes over. He’s got a singles win over Andrew Everett under his belt since Slammiversary and this would give him a bit of momentum. Prediction: Black Taurus

Countdown to Against All Odds
Dot Combat match for the Impact Digital Media Championship
Rich Swann (C) vs Brian Myers

I’m not a fan of people getting automatic rematches after losing title challenges cleanly and the logic behind merely attacking someone to just get what you want annoys me. However, Brian Myers’ running commentary on Swann’s match with Raj Singh on the go-home show has more or less redeemed this in my eyes. 

The Dot Combat stipulation is just a standard hardcore match with the weaponry all technology-themed – think keyboards, microphones, etc. These two should gel well enough in this environment, with Swann almost certain to win again. Prediction: Rich Swann

Deonna Purrazzo & Chelsea Green vs Mickie James & Mia Yim

Chelsea Green and Mickie James have issues dating back months, when Green turned on James during the latter’s attempt to win her Knockouts title back. James got a measure of revenge in a mixed tag alongside her husband Nick Aldis at Multiverse of Matches but was absent in Impact from then until Slammiversary. There, she returned as guest enforcer for Queen of the Mountain. She and Green renewed hostilities, Green kicking the penalty cage door in her face and James retaliating by pulling Green down as she climbed the ladder.

Deonna Purrazzo had agreed to form an alliance with Green in that Queen of the Mountain match, largely to neutralize the threat of Mia Yim. Yim had returned at Under Siege back in May, stopping a beatdown on Taya Valkyrie and clearing Purrazzo from the ring. At Slammiversary, Yim tipped Green and Purrazzo off a ladder and through a pair of tables on the outside. 

These stories came together on the show immediately after Slammiversary, with Yim defeating Green after James hit the ring to stop Purrazzo from interfering. The ultimate goal here is to build towards singles matches between the relative rivals and the way to do that is having the heels go over here. Prediction: Deonna Purrazzo and Chelsea Green

The Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) vs Ace Austin & Chris Bey

Chris Sabin and Ace Austin both got big singles wins on this week’s episode of Impact, Sabin in a notebook-worthy match against Frankie Kazarian and Austin over former friend Alex Zayne. Their reward? A tag team match here at Against All Odds.

The floor on this match is high as The Guns are great and The Bullet Club Young Guns (that has to stick) should be a fun, young, dynamic team. I am a little torn on picking a winner. Chris Bey got pinned in an X-Division contendership match and has lost the majority of his matches in Impact this year. That, and the fact that he and Austin are a new team, suggests that they’re primed to lose. Something, however, tells me that Bey and Austin are winning. I’m not sure what, and I’m probably wrong, but I’ll go with it. Prediction: The Bullet Club Young Guns

Honor No More (Eddie Edwards, Matt Taven, Mike Bennett, Kenny King & Vincent w/Maria Kanellis-Bennett) vs America’s Most Wanted (James Storm & Chris Harris), The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) and Heath

Another Impact show in 2022 and another big Honor No More tag match. And so it was for time immemorial. 

Eddie Edwards and the rest of Honor No More refused to acknowledge that they lost to the Impact Originals at Slammiversary and on the following TV show brawled with The Good Brothers, The Briscoes and America’s Most Wanted. The Briscoes ended up getting pillmanized, leading Scott D’Amore to pitch Honor No More into another 10-man tag match on this show. Replacing The Briscoes in the Impact team are Heath and ‘The Wildcat’ himself, Chris Harris, who’ll be working his first match in more than four years. The Honor No More team, meanwhile, have switched out PCO, the man pinned at Slammiversary, for Kenny King. 

I must admit that I’m very much looking forward to seeing the proper America’s Most Wanted entrance on this show, even if I’m a little unsure as to how Harris will look in the ring. The Good Brothers are less my bag at this point in time but having AMW back together in Impact for the first time since late 2006 is cool. 

The match itself should be decent enough because Honor No More has brought good energy all year. It should end with Edwards and co getting their arms raised. Winning here would further the simmering tension between Edwards and PCO and would also, if Taven or Bennett pin Anderson or Gallows, set up the next tag team title challengers. Prediction: Honor No More

Clockwork Orange House of Fun Match
Sami Callihan vs Moose

Although Sami Callihan won cleanly on his return from injury at Slammiversary, his feud with Moose must continue. They’ll renew hostilities here and as their first match was Monster’s Ball, Impact could only really pivot to another crazy stipulation and that means the return of the Clockwork Orange House of Fun. 

For those unaware of what Raven’s creation entails, I’ll explain. It’s a singles match where poles are attached to the ring posts. Attached to those poles are a series of single chains, all of which have assorted weapons attached to them. In most instances, falls count anywhere applies. 

While I remain unclear exactly why these two need a rematch, I’ll take it because this should rock. This is Sami’s style to a tee and Plunder Moose is always an enjoyable watch. Given that Raven is in attendance for this match, you’ve got to think that Sami Callihan is winning again and moving on to matches with Eddie Edwards and Josh Alexander. Prediction: Sami Callihan

Impact Wrestling Knockouts Tag Team Championship
Ragnarok (Rosemary & Taya Valkyrie) vs The Influence (Tenille Dashwood & Gisele Shaw)

This is Rosemary and Taya’s first defense of the titles they won from Tenille Dashwood and Madison Rayne at Slammiversary.

In place of the injured Rayne for this contractual rematch (eurgh) is the newest member of The Influence, Gisele Shaw. Shaw got a shenanigans-fuelled win over Rosemary on the go-home show to give this match, which has quite a low ceiling, a bit more spark.

While I could genuinely see them running with a title switch here, conventional booking logic makes me think that Ragnarok will retain but the story won’t be done. Prediction: Ragnarok

Impact X-Division Championship
Mike Bailey (C) vs Trey Miguel

I’m very excited for this but before I get into previewing it, I must have a little moan. Why did Trey Miguel need to win a four-way qualifier to be here? He got a clean pinfall win over Mike Bailey on the Slammiversary go-home show, so surely they could just reference that as the hook to swing back to a singles match between the two here at Against All Odds. You could then do a four-way qualifier for the next challenger once you’ve given Speedball his win back, surely?

Now that that moan is out the way, I feel confident in saying that this will be a certified banger and almost certainly MOTN. Their meeting on the Slammiversary go-home show was great, a very slick match full of tremendous counters and offense. You’d have to think that in a bigger spot with more stakes involved, they’ll kill it. Speedball is having a great year in 2022 and I expect that to continue in Atlanta with a first title defense. Prediction: Mike Bailey

Impact Knockouts World Championship
Jordynne Grace (C) vs Tasha Steelz

Given that Slammiversary was just 10 days before this show, it was inevitable that a lot of the builds would be fairly simple. There’s nothing wrong with that – as Cody Rhodes once said, not every match needs chapter and verse behind it. In this instance, Tasha is merely getting her rematch for the title she dropped to Grace during Queen of the Mountain. 

During her title run, Steelz’s matches always felt a bit flat, as though they were lacking something. They weren’t bad but they were merely fine and rarely much more. As a challenger, there should be a slightly different optic and my feeling is that this will be decent. Grace will almost certainly win before moving on to something new. Prediction: Jordynne Grace

Impact Wrestling World Championship
Josh Alexander (C) vs Joe Doering

The Against All Odds main event is a solid, albeit routine, title defense for Josh Alexander.

Having beaten Violent By Design leader Eric Young at Slammiversary, Alexander wanted to clear out the rest of the faction. He beat Deaner but now has to take on Doering, who has not been pinned since joining Impact in late 2020 and is the only person with a singles win over Alexander in Impact this year (albeit via disqualification). 

I’m unsure what to make of Joe Doering at this point. I like him, I think he’s fun and he really works as part of Violent By Design but he’s clearly no longer in his in-ring prime. I say that but when he has had properly featured singles matches in Impact, they’ve over-delivered relative to my expectations – his match with Satoshi Kojima at Against All Odds last year, for example. Whatever he has got in the tank, Josh Alexander, one of the very best in the world, will get the most out of him before sealing his fourth successful Impact World Championship title defence. Prediction: Josh Alexander