10 Best IMPACT Wrestling Matches Of The Empty Arena Era
Josh Alexander, Rich Swann, and others who made the most of IMPACT Wrestling's audience-free shows.
The ongoing global pandemic has been bittersweet, really, for IMPACT Wrestling.
It took away a live audience during a period that amassed arguably some of the company's greatest content and it prevented a handful of enticing plans from going ahead; your writer is still hopeful the TNA throwback show will go on as planned at some point. At the same time, though, they flourished throughout an unpredictable era.
Overall, the company's in-ring efforts were sublime. Their weekly shows in an empty Skyway Studios were tremendous, the monthly IMPACT Plus specials ranged from alright to downright banging, and their pay-per-views consistently bested their competition on a quarterly basis. Being mass taped helped the promotion out well, too. By saving the amount of time the roster was spending together, it prevented the risk of an infection spreading, thus securing a full roster for each set of tapings.
Needless to say, that roster delivered near enough every time. That a whole other list could be made simply from honorable mentions is a testament to this. But alas, the likes of Sami Callihan and Trey Miguel's Rebellion clash and No Surrender's inaugural Triple Threat Revolver match just missed the cut.
As for the cream of the crop?
10. The Motor City Machine Guns Vs. The North (Emergence 2020, Night One)
The Motor City Machine Guns vs. the North is an easy choice if you're looking to promote a banger of a tag team match, something that IMPACT Wrestling found out on the post-Slammiversary 2020 IMPACT episode. The two duos created wrestling excellence there, as they waged war over the World Tag Team Championships.
Their second outing the following month at IMPACT's Emergence special was a considerable step up, with a few callbacks to their original clash spliced in, almost as an indirect way of them saying they don't have to go all out every time. For example, Chris Sabin reversed a Northern Assault attempt by floating over into a small package on Ethan Page - which is precisely how he and Alex Shelley originally lifted the titles - before Josh Alexander flipped the rollup.
At this point, IMPACT was only a few months into their full-time empty arena shows. Their tag team division had taken a bit of a setback because of this, with the North's cinematic defence on the Deaner Compound being the only real standout. At Emergence, it felt as if things were back to the Lucha Bros and LAX days. Combining the classic WCW cruiserweight style of wrestling with the North's intense striking abilities, the quartet helped bring life back into IMPACT's doubles division.