9 Ups & 3 Downs From IMPACT Wrestling Hard To Kill 2022

7. Big Van JONAH

Josh Alexander vs. JONAH was fun, but it wasn't great. A surprisingly dull first-half denied it the opportunity to be a show-stealer, but the second-half saved it from complete pointlessness.

Despite the match effectively being a secondary story before we return to Josh vs. Moose, the former used this almost to prove something; he was daring the former Bronson Reed to hit him, receiving a stiff, Tomohiro Ishii-esque forearm for his troubles. The single strike completely wiped out the Triple Crown Champion, so much so that it may as well have been the match-ender.

That's why JONAH was the perfect pre-Moose opponent for Alexander. He's still a new face to IMPACT, so he's not hurt by a loss to one of the company's top babyfaces. It took everything Josh had to defeat him, too; a failed top-rope Moonsault from JONAH led to a Powerbomb and an Ankle Lock before JONAH eventually submitted. Alexander had barely worked the ankle of JONAH, so a single application of the Ankle Lock is fine. It was as dramatic a sequence as it needed to be, ended the feud nicely, and got JONAH out of the way.