9 Ups & 3 Downs From IMPACT Wrestling Hard To Kill 2022
A ridiculously entertaining night, featuring Mickie James, Josh Alexander, and numerous ROH stars...
IMPACT Wrestling is a weird entity in 2022.
They're not quite back to their former position of the second most prominent promotion in North America, but as a company, they're more prominent in the wider wrestling world than they've ever been. The AEW working relationship contributed to this, but Hard To Kill proved Tony Khan and co. aren't needed.
Hard To Kill, instead, was a night of proving to the wrestling community that IMPACT Wrestling is alive and well. They can do things no other company can.
They had women main event a pay-per-view for the first time, admittedly later than WWE did, but they finally pulled the trigger on that topic. Mickie James and Deonna Purrazzo had constructed such a prolific rivalry that there was no other option, particularly in hindsight when looking at the quality of their Texas Death Match compared to the assumed main event of Moose vs. Matt Cardona vs. W. Morrissey. On the same card, the seeds were planted for a full Ring Of Honor invasion.
Hard To Kill 2022 was genuinely must-see. Compared to AEW Battle of the Belts, there was no real competition for viewership, judging by Twitter discourse.
Let's get to it...