The sound of that Forbidden Door, someone coming, someone leaving, from where, who, when… This year, Impact Wrestling looked like a saloon whose swinging doors never stopped creaking. NJPW, AAA, NWA and mostly AEW talents spent a lot of time in the Impact Zone. Sometimes they helped promote IMPACT talents but pretty often they stole some TV time, some belts and matches IMPACT talents earned and needed. I’ve talked about that many times this year.
After the epic year of 2020, which was nothing like a ride in the wind, Impact Wrestling have resisted, welcomed back the fans in their shows, gave some chances to their talents (when it was possible). Impact Wrestling have stayed the same company, rock-solid, unconventional in some ways, careful of his women wrestlers. It was not a usual year but we witnessed some marvels from the IMPACT roster.
In many ways, the 52 weekly reviews, 12 iPPVs reviews, and 4 PPV reviews I have written would speak better than a Year-End Best-Of…
Of course, I’ll review for you this Best of 2021, Part 1, with all the highlights of the year. We will kick off the Year-End Awards as the Male Tag Team of the Year, Knockout of the Year and Knockouts Match of the Year, but I’ll also share with you The Nygma’s own 2021 Impact Wrestling Awards. Were my choices the same as Impact? No more words, let’s get ready for some action, but your French Enygma Steph way, of course…

The Nygma’s Chart of the Week

I won’t review the matches again, but add a few words to the reviews I’ve already done in the following section. On Before The Impact, back to the IPWF with DJ 2 Large who defeated Pelvis Wesley w/ Colonel Corn.

  • Josh Mathews and Impact EVP Scott D’Amore hosted the episode (thanks for the Nutcrackers in front of the chimney, guys… even if they are the same as last year). They wondered about how many “magical” moments would come from the opening of the Forbidden Door.
  • Hard To Kill 2021 – Kenny Omega & Good Brothers vs Rich Swann, Chris Sabin and Moose.
  • Backstage, Jordynne Grace asked Chris Sabin for advice on the Ultimate-X match. Sabin said upper-body strength is key, this led to a lot of pull-ups from Grace, allegedly lasting over an hour. Sabin lost count but thought Grace is ready.

  • After reminding us of Hard To Kill coming soon, Matthews and D’Amore talked about all the debuts and comebacks of the year, Matt Cardona, W. Morrissey, Jay White, Frankie Kazarian, Mickie James, Christian Cage, Christopher Daniels, and JONAH. D’Amore and Matthews called IMPACT the most unpredictable 2 hours in wrestling.

  • Rebellion 2021 – FinJuice (c) vs Good Brothers.
  • The Tag Team of The Year, as voted by the fans, is The Good Brothers. Gallows and Anderson ran down their accolades and promised more of the same in 2022.
  • Rebellion 2021 – Title vs Title Match- Kenny Omega vs Rich Swann (c).

  • D’Amore reminded us that Omega held the Impact World title hostage until Christian Cage won it back at AEW. We then got a verbal recap of Josh Alexander winning the title from Cage only to have Moose take it from him a minute or so later.
  • Backstage, Deonna Purrazzo and The Drama King Matt Rehwoldt talked about how Purrazzo’s rematch with Mickie James is a Texas Death Match. Purrazzo put herself over and reminded us this is the Age of the Virtuosa.

  • The Knockouts Match of The Year, as voted by the fans, is Deonna Purrazzo vs Mickie James at Bound For Glory.
  • Bound For Glory 2021 – Mickie James vs Deonna Purrazzo (c).

  • Backstage, X-Division champion Trey Miguel wanted to know where Scott D’Amore is and wanted a match with Maclin. He wanted to prove he can beat Maclin. Gail Kim got out of the Impact Management office and made the match at Hard to Kill for the X-Division title.
  • Masha Slamovich is coming soon.

  • After a recap of the Hard To Kill contract signing last week, Matt Cardona talked about the opportunity to fight for the title, that’s all he wants and he came here to take the top title. Neither Moose nor Morrissey will stand in his way. At Hard to Kill, you’re getting 18 years worth of preparation from Cardona.

  • Rebellion 2021: TJP vs Ace Austin (c) vs Josh Alexander. Alexander’s 2021 will get a more in-depth look next week on Part 2.
  • Backstage, The Good Brothers and Violent By Design talked about their unholy alliance but there couldn’t be a more vicious trio for them to share the ring with. Eric Young said this is temporary, and while they don’t like each other they dislike their opponents more. At Hard to Kill, the world will understand Violence.

  • D’Amore put over Jordynne Grace becoming the first Impact Wrestling Digital Media Champion.
  • Bound For Glory: Digital Media Championship Inaugural Match – Jordynne Grace vs. Fallah Bahh vs. Chelsea Green vs. John Skyler vs. Crazzy Steve vs. Madison Rayne.

  • The Knockout of The Year, as voted by the fans, is Deonna Purrazzo, for the second year in a row. She talked about waving the Impact Wrestling banner in the NWA, AAA, and everywhere else. We’re forever in the Age of the Virtuosa.
  • Bound For Glory 2021: Christian Cage (c) vs Josh Alexander.

The Nygma’s NutCrackers of the Week

Click on the name of the event to find the original review of the show and the match.

  • Hard To Kill 2021 – AEW World Champion Kenny Omega & IMPACT World Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) w/ Don Callis vs IMPACT World Champion Rich Swann, Chris Sabin & TNA World Heavyweight Champion Moose

The match was long to find its pace but no one would have expected the magic would come from Moose. Not only did he do some true teamwork but what he delivered was incredible. As I said before, he is never better than in a PPV and he proved it again yesterday. We clearly saw Moose wants Omega’s belt like he wants Swann’s belt. After all, everybody wants to rule the world…

  • Rebellion 2021 – FinJuice (c) vs The Good Brothers for the IMPACT World Tag Team Championship

The long-awaited rematch… Since No Surrender, Anderson and Gallows had been champing at the bit and waiting for FinJuice to come back from Japan to have a chance to regain the Tag Team titles. That night, FinJuice were clearly a tone above the Good Brothers. This match, compared to the No Surrender one, showed it way better. I clearly said when we were all Omega-focused, we didn’t see the tree that was hiding the forest. FinJuice are impressive, they deserve to wear the belts they won without any shenanigans.

  • Rebellion 2021 – Title vs Title Match: AEW World Champion Kenny Omega w/ Don Callis and The Good Brothers vs IMPACT World Champion Rich Swann w/ Eddie Edwards and Willie Mack

Two referees, a special announcer, 3 AEW executives there, 3 vs 2 at ringside… And me, and me, and me (you couldn’t understand…) Before talking about the match, since Kenny Omega stepped a foot in the Impact Zone, I had champed at the bit. If only it was a bad match, and it was not. If only Rich Swann made a mistake, and he didn’t. If only there were some cheating or interferences, and there was a few but neglectable. If only things happened the way the IMPACT roster wanted it to, and it didn’t. That night, our family lost one of its most important members, after all.

  • Bound For Glory 2021 – Impact Knockouts Championship Match: Deonna Purrazzo (c) vs Mickie James (NWA)

This match was meant to be brutal and have a sour smell of revenge. It ended up with a cheat. Was it really necessary? It was a good match, with the big end we all expected. Mickie James is still killing it and she had interesting in-ring chemistry with Deonna Purrazzo. Time is now telling us now The Age of The Virtuosa has just begun…

  • Rebellion 2021 – Three-Way Match for the X-Division Championship: Ace Austin (c) w/ Madman Fulton vs TJP vs Josh Alexander

Is there a better way to start a PPV than an X-Division match? The perfect modern classic only Impact Wrestling can deliver. That was meant to be the Match of the Night, at least mine. Of course, it was. If you blinked, it was over. What a fantastic match and a fresh winner. I even felt in D’Lo Brown and Matt Striker’s voices some bits of happiness… I looked at Josh Alexander holding that belt, completely numb, and I remembered a story he told me when we chatted. “Often when really good things happen, I don’t tend to believe them right up until like the moment they’re actually coming true.” I think after a few hours, he was celebrating. Matches like this, moments like this, they make us remember why we love wrestling. Just amazing…

  • Countdown to Bound For Glory 2021 – Digital Media Championship Inaugural Match – Jordynne Grace vs. Fallah Bahh vs. Chelsea Green vs. John Skyler vs. Crazzy Steve vs. Madison Rayne (at 50’00)

The Digital Media belt is meant to be defended and held by men or women indifferently. So I really appreciated the fact every woman played the game of intergender wrestling. We know Chelsea Green and Jordynne Grace have no problem with that, but seeing Madison Rayne doing it was really appreciated. A nice but short match that saw Jordynne Grace win.

An instant classic, of course. Alexander and Christian had an awesome match here with a great story throughout, as Christian was doing his best but got reeled in by Alexander. The ending was about Christian getting trapped by a submission machine as Alexander was just the better man. Alexander also knew what Christian would be trying because he has watched him for so many years. This felt like a true passing of the torch, which is exactly what it should have been. UNTIL Moose cashed in his Shot. He did it like Edge before, as an Ultimate Opportunist. Some will say it ruined the happy ending. I will say it opened such a land of opportunities the coming months will be very, very interesting…

The Weekly “Enigma For a Nygma” (Hard To Kill 2022 as of now)

At least, we couldn’t we don’t know… The Road to Rebellion is already written in stone. No Genesis iPPV in January but the IMPACT roster will have enough to do in the coming months.

Also, I put the pic at the end of this review but the card of Bound For Glory is complete. If Deonna Purrazzo came to ROH to ask Rok-C a match for the Women’s title (the match will take place after Hard to Kill), the ROH World Champion is now coming to IMPACT. Jonathan Gresham will put his title on the line against our “Smoke Show” (sorry…), but also the greatest X-Division Champion of all time, Chris Sabin. This match is one you can’t miss because, I hope I’m not wrong, it has never happened before, in any promotions. Jonathan Gresham is not talented, he is a genius of the rings. I want to see this match…

Impact Wrestling 2021 Awards vs. The Nygma 2021 Awards

Fans were able to choose their favourites wrestlers, moments and matches on social media. The matches quoted below were highlights of 2021, I let you imagine what the Top 5 will be…

– Tag Team of the Year: The Good Brothers – Our opinion: 100% Nygma. 

I was definitely for FinJuice but you can’t argue with the fact the Good Brothers did a great job this year. They cheated, a lot, they did some unholy alliances… Yep…

Knockouts Match of the year: Deonna Purrazzo vs Mickie James – Our opinion: 60% Nygma. 

I understand Impact Wrestling fans are happy to see Mickie James back in the Impact Zone. But it was not the match of the year. We had the chance to have a women-only PPV called Knockouts Knockdown, a show jam-packed with fantastic ladies and matches. To the point Mercedes Martinez, Masha Slamovich and Lady Frost are now signed. With all the respect due to Mickie and her amazing career, I wished we could look at the future on this one…

– Knockout of the year: Deonna Purrazzo – My opinion: 300% Nygma.

After winning the title twice and becoming the first-ever IMPACT Iron Woman, The Virtuosa became AAA Reina de Reinas Champion and invaded NWA. She now targets the ROH Women’s Championship. More than the Knockouts of the Year, Purrazzo was the face of the company in 2021. Period.

Like every year, I decided to push the button a little bit further, here are some awards I chose to share with you and Impact Wrestling. Of course, comment on these choices on my social media @FrenchNygma.

– The categories IMPACT didn’t want you to vote for this year

Finishing Move of The Year: The C-4 Spike
X-Division Wrestler of The Year: Josh Alexander
One to Watch in 2022: JONAH
Moment of the Year: Moose cashing in his Call Your Shot Gauntlet opportunity at Bound For Glory

– Most Likely to become Champion in 2022

World Champion: Josh Alexander
Tag Team Champions: Rich Swann & Willie Mack
Knockouts Champion: Rosemary
X-Division Champion: Black Taurus
Knockouts Tag Team Champions: a team that has yet to be created

The Comeback of the Year: Christian Cage

– Oh My Nygma Award (Surprise of the year): Violent By Design

The «Titanic is sinking » Award of the Year (Disaster of the year): Lawrence D’s perfume.

The «Japanese Spy » Award of the Year: Minoru Fujita – Satoshi Kojima (tie)

The « Take a walk on the Wild Side » Wrestler of the Year (Turn of the year): Chris Bey

– Monster of the Year: W. Morrissey

– Most Overrated Wrestler of the Year: Tenille Dashwood – Matt Cardona (tie)

– Most Underrated Wrestler of the Year: Crazzy Steve – Jake Something (tie)

Feud of the Year: TJP/Rohit Raju

He is Hardcore Award: Eddie Edwards

– She is Hardcore Award: Alisha Edwards

– “The Voices in Our Heads” Award: D’Lo Brown and Matt Striker

– The Fanny Bag Award: Johnny Swinger

– The Forbidden Door Award: FinJuice

– Hello I’m Back From TNA Award: Christopher Daniels – Kazarian (tie)

– The Smoke Show Award: Chris Sabin

– The « Captain Charisma » Award of the Year (best on the mic): Moose

– The “Panda” Award of the Year (fan favourite of the year): Fallah Bahh

The Conga Line Award of the Year: No Way (still not José)

– The Heart & Soul Award of the Year: Eddie Edwards

To be eNYGMAtic…

Those highlights were good. I hope my personal favourite match will be aired next week. Obviously, as Josh Alexander stole the year, he will be the Superstar of Part 2. With Hard To Kill just around the corner, the build-up had to be fast, and it was, which made of this first Best-Of something a bit messy. 
Next week, Part 2 will be about Wrestler of The Year, Knockout Tag Team of the Year, and Men’s Match of the Year, chosen by the fans. Because of these highlights, I easily imagine what they would be. And I think I will disagree a little bit… The year 2021 was so good but at the same time so complicated that some choices could easily be bad ones… At least I hope…
On this very “Nygma Will Celebrate St Stephen” note, until next week, happy Holidays and never EVER forget to stay #eNYGMAtic…

All pics, videos, and screenshots courtesy of Impact Wrestling, and AXS TV. Photocollage custom made by @frenchnygma exclusively for @steelchairmag.

By Steph Franchomme

News, Reviews, Social Media Editor, Impact Wrestling Reviewer, Interviewer Well, call me The Boss... And French...

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