Impact recap & reactions (April 20, 2023): Witches do witch stuff

The witches are up to no good in the Impact Zone. The Coven has Deonna Purrazzo in their sights.

Purrazzo won the Knockouts Championship at Rebellion. The new age of the Virtuosa is here.

Taylor Wilde and KiLynn King didn’t take kindly to that message. The Coven read the cards looking for power. Witch riddles pointed them to Purrazzo being fraud. They decided to kick her ass to expose the new age of the Virtuosa. Instead, it will be the dawning of the age of Aquarius.

Wilde will have her chance to extinguish Purrazzo by challenging for the Knockouts Championship next week.

Let’s blitz through the rest of the results from Impact Wrestling (Apr. 20, 2023).

• Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, & Kushida defeated Trey Miguel, “Speedball” Mike Bailey, & Jonathan Gresham. Miguel tried to be a glory hog by only tagging in when the situation was in control. That tactic backfired when Time Machine cleared the ring to triple-team the X-Division champion. Sabin finished with Cradle Shock.
• After Santino Marella’s successful in-ring return, he is content to remain in his role as Director of Authority. He might wrestle again from time to time when justice needs to be served. Alisha Edwards barged in demanding something be done about PCO terrorizing her husband. Santino informed her that she had a match next. Johnny Swinger and Zicky Dice hand-picked the world’s best luchador to be the Swingman’s first win in his quest to 50 to earn a world title shot. Dice even offered to pay the man’s fee and transportation, so Impact wouldn’t have to foot the bill. Santino okayed the proposal.

• Alisha Edwards defeated Tara Rising. Alisha unleashed an aggressive side to win on a facebuster. After the match, Alisha stomped her opponent. Jody Threat ran in for the save. Backstage, Rising thanked Threat for the backup. Threat hates seeing people get taken advantage of, and she will make sure Alisha gets hers.
• Moose defeated Yuya Uemura. Brian Myers interfered often, so Bhupinder Gujjar came over to pack a punch. Moose took advantage of the distraction to hit a spear for victory.
• Nick Aldis has his eye on the Impact World Championship. He cautioned Steve Maclin not to wilt under the pressure of carrying the company, because he will be there ready to pounce once he gets a title shot. (Full details here.)

• Frankie Kazarian defeated the Good Hands. This was a tag team style handicap match against John Skyler and Jason Hotch. Kaz schooled them with savvy strategy. He took care of Hotch on a slingshot cutter. That cleared the path to trap Skyler in a chickenwing submission to win.
• Sami Callihan explained he was working a long con to play the Design. He is the puppet master leaving breadcrumbs along the way. The Death Machine will destroy the Design.

• Joe Hendry defeated Sheldon Jean. The Standing Ovation chokeslam earned the win.
• Steve Maclin celebrated winning the Impact World Championship with a changing of the guard ceremony. He wanted to beat Josh Alexander for the belt, but Alexander is injured. Maclin issued an open challenge to any Canadian. Scott D’Amore heard enough bashing of his beloved country, so he gave a piece of his mind to Maclin. That resulted in PCO getting the next title shot at Under Siege on May 26. (Full details here.)

This was one of those episodes that will come and go without much reaction. The opening bout was solid getting plenty of time to work in the ring. Based on past Impact booking, I guess Chris Sabin is in line for an X-Division title shot since he pinned Trey Miguel. Nick Aldis served a re-introduction promo to get his feet wet in Impact again. His larger purpose is clear in chasing the world title. Steve Maclin is getting the opportunity to establish his run with main event mic time and a tough opponent as first challenger. Odds are strong that Maclin will retain, so a win over PCO will be more about adding value to his reign.

Share your thoughts on the latest episode of Impact Wrestling.