As we reach the end of the year, now seems like a good time for a little retrospective look on the year that has been 2023 for IMPACT Wrestling; Overall, business has been great for the company even in the face of some minor hicccups like top stars getting injured or leaving as well as constant audio and techinical issues, there have been some incredible moments this year that have left the fans and the wrestling world in general feel a sense of shock and awe.
As you can imagine narrowing it to a top 10 list was difficult, but I just managed to do it…Here are the Top 10 IMPACT Wrestling Moments of 2023.
Be sure to comment down below on your favorite IMPACT Wrestling Moments of 2023 and why do you like them so much. Also if you like this article, be sure to follow DiscussPW on our website and all social media accounts where we have discussions and articles on all of your favorite wrestling promotions.
Honorable Mentions
Tasha Steelz Returns
Darren McCarthy Goes Through A Table
KENTA IMPACT’s Debut
Ace & Bey Wins The IMPACT Tag Team Titles
Taya Valkyrie gets Dragged to the Undead Realm
The Good Hands Join Forces with Bully Ray
Nick Aldis Returns
Dirty Dango Turns Heel
The Hardcore War
The Formation of the Coven
Tara Returns
Santino Marella’s IMPACT Debut
Alisha Edwards Turns Heel
Zachary Wentz Returns
Josh Reliqushes The World Title/Jett Snatches The Belt
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10. The Burial, Destruction, & Burning of PCO
From his career renaissance in Ring of Honor back in the late 2010’s to his current run in IMPACT, PCO has become of the biggest novelty acts in modern pro wrestling and his unrelenting moveset and commitment to the character makes him a force to be reckoned with, which makes it all the more fascinating when his opponents need to find a way to depose of him such was the case in 2023 for some on the IMPACT roster.
The first attempt came during PCO’s feud with Eddie Edwards as the former TNA World Champion had previously buried the French-Canadian Frankenstein in the Nevada desert during the Las Vegas tapings in late 2022. Considering that PCO’s entire gimmick is based on the fact that ‘His Not Human’, you’d think burying him alive wouldn’t be enough and Eddie must’ve thought the same because when PCO returned at Hard To Kill and the two continue to feud all the way to the upcoming tapings (again in Las Vegas Nevada), an unknown person (later revealed to be wife, Alisha Edwards) hit PCO with a car, leaving him “dead”…Of course he would return.
Fast forward into the Spring of 2023 and PCO is challenging Steve Maclin for the latter’s newly won World Heavyweight Championship and in the lead up to their match at Under Siege, Maclin along with temporary allies: Champagne Singh and Shera beat up PCO on a few occassions with one of the most notably seeing them take concrete boards and a slegdehammer to the monster which took him out…for a about a few weeks.
Finally the most notable attempt at getting rid of PCO saw Steve Maclin (again) and hardcore legend, Bully Ray sneak attack PCO and bringing him into the backstage area where they shoved batter acid into his mouth presumably so he could choke on it and then proceeded to pouring gasoline on him and then setting the monster on fire…that’s one way to do it I guess.
Of course PCO would return and get his revenge…surviving not one, not two, but three attempts at his undead life in the span of several months.
PCO and Eddie Edwards BRAWL IN THE DESERT | IMPACT Mar. 9, 2023 – YouTube
Bully Ray and Steve Maclin DEMOLISH PCO Ahead of Slammiversary | IMPACT July 6, 2023 – YouTube
9. Kazarian Comes Back Home
Since their inception back in 2019, All Elite Wrestling saw a combination of young wrestlers and seasoned veterans work together to create a new promotion that stood as the antithesis to the WWE and their style of sports entertainment.
Among those veterans was former TNA X Division and Tag Team Champion, Frankie Kazarian who had achieved modest success in the early years of the company, but began to realize that he didn’t want his last few years in wrestling to be sitting on the wayside, so it was especially surprising as to what happened next.
Following the Motor City Machine Guns victory in a match moments earlier at the Hard To Kill pay per view, out came Kazarian to the shock of many as he went on to mention that everything from his previous return in late 2022 where he won the X Division title and then later cashed in Option C to try and fail to win the world title at Overdrive and also brought up how things didn’t sit right with him being given nothing of note to do in AEW.
Faced with the choice of either staying in AEW or leaving for elsewhere, Kazarian chose the latter and asked for his release from All Elite Wrestling before revealing that he signed a long term contract with IMPACT Wrestling.
What followed for Kazarian was a memorable rivarly with Eddie Edwards and the announcement of his wife and former wrestler, Traci Brooks being one of three people to inducted into the IMPACT Wrestling Hall of Fame at that year’s Bound For Glory.
Frankie Kazarian SIGNS with IMPACT Wrestling | Hard To Kill 2023 Highlights – YouTube
8. Mickie Reliquishes The Knockouts Championship
Rebellion 2023 was an interesting one with the biggest selling point going into the show being that two new champions would be crowned for the Knockouts and World Title; Josh Alexander suffered a tricep tear which forced him to surrender his world heavyweight championship and while that moment coupled with his son running to grab the title back nearly made it onto this list, I’ve gone with Mickie’s moment instead.
While Josh’s injury made it clear that he wouldn’t have a chance to defend the gold at the next pay per view, the same couldn’t be said for Mickie James (at least for some time), see Mickie had suffered a rib injury months after regaining the Knockouts World Championship in the main event of Hard To Kill and this not only led to a title rematch between herself and Jordynne Grace at Sacrifice getting cancelled, but also resulted in a Deonna Purrazzo winning a number one contender’s match at the Multiverse United meaning at Rebellion it would either be Mickie James defending the title against both Grace and Purrazzo if she was medically cleared or it be just Deonna and Jordynne fighting for the title.
During the final segment of the go-home episode of IMPACT where the fans have all cleared out and all but a single spotlight was left on in the middle of the ring, Mickie poured her heart out into her speech before announcing that she was not medically cleared to compete and deciding to vacate the title before leaving the belt and her blue cowgirl hat in the ring before walking away into the night.
A unique way to have a talent reliquish a championship and a very touching way to write off Mickie James out of action for some time.
Mickie James RELINQUISHES Knockouts World Championship | IMPACT Apr. 13, 2023 – YouTube
7. Edge’s B####
Joe Hendry’s return to the company at Bound For Glory 2022 was a great decision not only because it meant bringing back a talented wrestler back into the fold, but it also meant fans would get to see the Scotland native do two of his favorite things in pro wrestling: competing in the ring and making parody songs that disparages his opponent.
Hendry’s parody songs on Moose and Kenny King were hilarious, but for this entry I’ve decided to go with the song that insulted two wrestlers for the price of one and actually led to one of them kayfabe leaving the company.
On the Janurary 26th edition of IMPACT!, Joe Hendry released a new song to both the audience but also to Brian Myers and Matt Cardona (the former Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder in WWE respectively); In the song Hendry brings up Cardona’s relationship with former TNA wrestler, Laurel Van Ness aka Chelsea Green, both men’s love of wrestling action figures and mentions how Cardona is 37 years old but looks like his 54.
From here, the song goes on and mentions both men’s time as the Edgeheads, the running mates for WWE Superstar, Edge around 2007-08 and refers to them as kids and more specifically as ‘Edge’s Bitch # 1 and #2’. As you can imagine the fans loved it while Myers and Cardona despised it, so much that they made their own parody song dunking on Joe Hendry but it didn’t work.
After getting humiliated throughout the February 9th episode in which Cardona ended up changing his clothes outside of a parking lot and losing to Hendry in the main event for the Digital Media Championship, Hendry again played the Edge’s Bitch song which further drove Matt insane and lead to him disappearing off our screens until he made his return for one night and attacked Hendry at the Call Your Shot Gauntlet at Bound For Glory 2023…just one year after Joe’s return.
Fun fact, when Edge left WWE early this year to debut in All Elite Wrestling under his real name of Adam Copeland, Hendry changed the title of the song to ‘Adam’s Bitch’, but that didn’t helped for the former DMC title holder as he ended up losing a match to Brian Myer moments later on that same night.
Matt Cardona Challenges Joe Hendry For Digital Media Championship | IMPACT Feb. 9, 2023 – YouTube
Joe Hendry’s “Edge’s B***h” Song INFURIATES Matt Cardona | IMPACT Jan. 26, 2023 – YouTube
Joe Hendry gives Brian Myers a NEW Title (FULL MATCH) | IMPACT Nov. 9, 2023 (youtube.com)
6. Steve Maclin Wins Impact The World Title
Following the momentum of his 2021 debut along with his then undefeated streak and series of great matches with folks like Petey Williams, Trey Miguel and Rich Swann things were looking up for Steve Maclin going into 2023 as he was shifting into a feud with the company’s top star, Josh Alexander.
While plans were place for Maclin and Alexander to fight in the main event for the World Championship at Rebellion, those plans were changed following the previously mentioned triceps tears that force Josh to vacate the title.
In response, Maclin fought New Japan Pro Wrestler (and man who might of kayfabe caused Josh’s injury) Kushida in the semi main event for the title at Rebellion with the end result being Steve Maclin crowned the new champion.
Although his time at the top was short (more on that later), Maclin’s brief run was good and it clearly showed that the company saw something special in him and who knows, maybe another title reign could happen for the former forgotten son in 2024.
5. Jade Gets Payback
At IMPACT’s Hard To Kill pay per view, the show got under way with Josh Alexander defending his World Heavyweight Championship against Bully Ray in a Full Metal Mayhem which was built upon Bully’s actions following the main event of 2022’s Overdrive event where he attacked Alexander and his wife, Jade after making his intentions clear on that he’ll challenge for the world title and his willing to go to any lenghts to become champion.
After ziptyping Josh Alexander to the ropes and pummeling him with a trash can lid, Bully noticed someone coming to the ring which turned out to be Jade who came out to stand up for her husband only for a bloody faced Bully Ray to intimate her, demand her to cry and beg before bizzarely asking for her wedding ring.
Jade understandably refuses to do this leading to Bully saying: “Okay, Now You Die”. , before getting clobbered with a massive low blow much to the delight of Josh and the considerable pain of Bully.
However that wasn’t enough for Mrs. Alexander as she quickly one-ups this by grabbing Bully and hitting the Acid Drop aka The Dudley Dog onto him whilst getting a few thumbtacks for her troubles.
A truly satisfying moment capped all of with ‘The Walking Weapon’ securing the victory not just for himself but his family.
4. Scott D’Amore Returns at Sacrifice
From one Bully Ray moment to another…
Since his return to the company back at Bound For Glory 2022, Bully Ray continues to show himself as one of wrestling’s greatest manipulators which resulted in him making a lot of enemies; Among them was IMPACT Wrestling President, Scott D’Amore who actually was on the receiving end of a table spot by the former world champion which took him off screen…But not for long.
Fast forward to the month of March and IMPACT has it’s Sacrifice event with one of the more high profiled matches seeing Bully Ray defeat Tommy Dreamer in a Busted Open Match thanks to the help of his running buddies: John Skyler and Jason Hotch aka The Good Hands.
After helping Bully beat Dreamer and putting NFL Legend Darren McCarty through a table, out came Scott D’Amore along with a number of wrestlers from the locker room who proceeded to clear the ring until Hotch attempted to sneak attack the boss which not only backfired, but led to D’Amore hitting a freaking Canadian Destroyer which made the crowd in Windsor Ontario erupt with delight and left many including Bully Ray absolutely stunned.
3. Trinity’s IMPACT Debut
When news broke that Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out on the WWE during an episode of Monday Night Raw, the wrestling world was flabbergasted as nothing like this had ever happened before since CM Punk after the 2014 Royal Rumble.
While Sasha (now known as Mercedes Moné) was the first to return to the ring as she competed for NJPW throughout her post WWE run, things were not so clear with Naomi/Trinity Fatu although some spectulated that she and Mercedes would go to AEW or back to WWE. Then, things got interesting when it was announced in April that Trinity would be making her IMPACT Wrestling debut which divided fans (mostly on the Internet) with some being happy for the former Smackdown Women’s Champion while others were more upset and petty…You know as some fans tend to be.
On the May 4th edition of IMPACT! Trinity emerged in front of an enegretic Chicago crowd and she went on to speak her peace while also bringing up some of the most decorated names in the Knockouts Division including Jordynne Grace and then Knockouts World Champion, Deonna Purrazzo who soon came down to confront Impact’s newest free agent signee.
After exchanging some barbs with each other, Jordynne Grace soon came in the ring which further escalated tensions going into the Knockouts Title match at Under Siege with Trinity declaring that she wants to face the winner of that match in the near future.
This moment combined with her in-ring debut against former Knockouts Tag Team Champion, KiLynn King helped to make Trinity an exciting addition to the IMPACT Wrestling roster.
Trinity DEBUTS in IMPACT Wrestling | IMPACT May 4, 2023 – YouTube
Trinity’s In-Ring DEBUT vs. KiLynn King | IMPACT May 18, 2023 – YouTube
2. Lighting Up The Coach
Once again Scott D’Amore is in the crosshairs of Bully Ray who makes his return at Under Siege in order to take out the President of IMPACT Wrestling.
Following a bloody but successful title defense over PCO, Steve Maclin demands D’Amore to live up to his promise which meant he had to put the belt around Maclin’s waist and then shake his hand; While the first part of that did happen, the second half didn’t as Maclin intentionally snubs D’Amore as an act of defiance.
From here, Bully Ray returns to choke out Scott with a leather strap before telling Maclin to get the tables to which he does before spraying the table with lighter fluid. Despite the efforts of the Motor City Machine Guns, PCO and even Matthew Rehwoldt, D’Amore ends up getting powerbombed by Bully throught a flaming table, ending the show in one of the most Impactful (no pun intended) ways in recent memory.
Bully Ray POWERBOMBS Scott D’Amore Through A FLAMING TABLE | Under Siege 2023 Highlights – YouTube
LIVE Reaction From Under Siege in London, ON | Under Siege Post-Show – YouTube
1. Alex Shelley Wins the IMPACT World Title
Following the events at the Rebellion pay per view, the main event for Slammiversary 2023 looked set to be Steve Maclin defending his IMPACT World Championship against ‘The National Tresure’ Nick Aldis, however before that could happen Maclin was set to defend his title against Alex Shelley in the main event of 2023’s Against All Odds event.
Considering the fact that Shelley became number one contender a few weeks ago, a face-to-face confrontation between Maclin and Aldis occurred not long after Maclin won the belt and Shelley’s last shot at the world title happened at Emergence 2022 where he lost…nearly everyone expected Maclin to defeat the former TNA Tag Team Champion before main eventing IMPACT’s biggest pay per view of the Summer.
When the time came for the match at Against All Odds not only did Shelley deliver an amazing performance, but he also pinned Maclin clean in the ring after using an exposed turnbuckle that the champion had previously exposed and then capping it all off with a ‘Shell Shock’ for the three count and just like that Alex Shelley became the new IMPACT Wrestling World Champion.
The emotion in Shelley’s face plus his friends Chris Sabin and Frankie Kazarian coming out there to celebrate with him made it all the more better and easily stands as one of the best wrestling moments in 2023.
THE “MOMENT” ALEX SHELLEY BECAME IMPACT WRESTLING WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION ! (youtube.com)
And that’s my list, What is your favorite IMPACT Wrestling Moment of 2023? Be sure let us know in the comments section, you can follow me on X, @FullertonHakeem and you can check out the previous article I made on The 10 Best Non-Title Matches in Bound For Glory History right here.