Mickie James, Kenta title fights added to Impact’s Sacrifice, Multiverse United events

Impact has a busy time ahead with 3 special events in the next 5 weeks. Sacrifice takes place Friday, March 24, Multiverse United: Only the STRONG Survive goes live Thursday, March 30, and Rebellion hits PPV on Sunday, April 16. Impact has announced several matches over the past few days to fill out the shows.

The card for Sacrifice on March 24 contains:

• Josh Alexander, Rich Swann, & Frankie Kazarian vs. Kushida, Chris Sabin, & Alex Shelley
• Knockouts Championship: Mickie James (c) vs. Jordynne Grace
• X-Division Championship: Trey Miguel (c) vs. Santino Marella’s handpicked opponent
• Busted Open match: Tommy Dreamer vs. Bully Ray

Alexander has a world title defense at the Impact/NJPW joint show, Multiverse United, against Kushida. This six-man bout is designed as a tease toward that match. It is a little lackluster on paper to be a main event, so don’t be surprised if James and Grace get the call to close the show. Grace receives her contractual rematch after losing the title to James. James aims to put to sleep any controversy that she tapped out and it was not called by the referee. Dreamer and Bully are ready to throw down, and the stipulation will be equivalent to First Blood.

The lineup for Multiverse United: Only the STRONG Survive on March 30 includes:

• Impact World Championship: Josh Alexander (c) vs. Kushida
• Will Ospreay vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey
• NJPW Strong Openweight Championship: Kenta (c) vs. Minoru Suzuki
• Impact World Tag Team Championship: Bullet Club (Ace Austin & Chris Bey) (c) vs. Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher) vs. TMDK (Shane Haste & Bad Dude Tito) vs. Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin)
• X-Division Championship: Trey Miguel (c) vs. Rich Swann vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Rocky Romero vs. Kevin Knight vs. Clark Connors
• Moose vs. Jeff Cobb
• PCO, Callihan, Fred Rosser, & Alex Coughlin vs. Eddie Edwards, Joe Hendry, Tom Lawlor, & JR Kratos

Alexander versus Kushida and Ospreay versus Bailey are billed as co-main events. Title fights were added to sizzle the steak. Kenta versus Suzuki is one I have my eye on most. This battle will be a rubber match in their personal series of singles competition. Suzuki won round one in 2005. Kenta evened the score in 2021. The 8-man tag bout seems odd in babyface/heel alignment with Callihan and Hendry on what would seem like the wrong teams.

Rebellion on April 16 has one official match so far:

• Impact World Championship: Josh Alexander (c) vs. Steve Maclin

Maclin earned his shot by winning a #1 contender bout. Mr. Mayhem awaits whoever is holding Impact’s top prize at that time.

Which matches from Impact’s upcoming schedule have you most eager to view?