"It's the Final Countdown." - Europe
As the world counts down to the end of 2023, it also looks forward to 2024, where new hopes and dreams rise as the calendar resets for January. Perhaps nowhere else in the world is that as accurate as it is for the stars of Impact Wrestling, which will soon seek to exist. Only in professional wrestling can the end of one promotion lead to the immediate rise of another and that is true over the course of Impact Wrestling history, as the promotion that once replaced TNA will disappear into the darkness, allowing TNA to rise once more, unifying the history of the company and the dreams and goals of its incredible rose of professional wrestlers.
While TNA is once again looming ever closer on the horizon ahead, Impact Wrestling, which fought and crawled from certain doom to rise above as one of the true central forces in professional wrestling, heads to Toronto this Saturday for their final pay-per-view presentation on FITE. It will be a spectacular that at once provides an epitaph for all that Impact accomplished since Anthem Sports acquired ownership of the company and a prologue for what is to come when Total Nonstop Action Wrestling once again reigns supreme across the hearts and souls of die hard wrestling aficionados.
Before Impact Wrestling closes the door on a very precious, special chapter, The Don Kolov Arena will stand forever as a very historic evening, as FITE presents Final Resolution 2023, featuring the following momentous main event clashes!
DREAM TAG TEAM ENCOUNTER
This Saturday, The Motor City Machine Guns, Impact Wrestling Champion Alex Shelley and X-Division Chris Sabin will unite once more, not just to prove themselves as one of the best professional wrestling tandems of all time, but to prove to potential challengers for their singles titles that alone or combined, they are too much to handle. Their synchronized tag team offensive maneuvers are the stuff of legend and the work ethic for Sabin and Shelley is something that few have ever been able to overcome inside the squared circle.
Their opposition this Saturday, former Impact Wrestling World Champion Josh Alexander, has proven himself countless times over as the true heart and soul of the promotion, battling everyone conceivable as he rose to greatness, with only injury hampering his success. Now that he's back at 100%, Alexander looks to close 2023 with the one thing that eluded him at Bound for Glory, a win over Alex Shelley, something that would certainly set the stage for future championship matches in 2024.
Making history this Saturday will be international wrestling wizard and the reigning New Japan Pro Wrestling World Television Champion, the debuting Zack Sabre Jr. Sabre has never, ever stepped foot inside an Impact Wrestling ring and this Saturday, looks to sharpen steel against steel when he clashes with the Machine Guns. Just his appearance alone is a declaration that sends seismic ripple effects across the wrestling landscape, but if Sabre can capture a victory over either Sabin or Shelley, certainly he'll have planted his flag on TNA ground. Plus, the question remains as to how he'll co-exist with Josh Alexander as a team?
This dream tag team encounter leaves countless questions to be answered as it could twist and turn into an infinite number of scenarios, leaving one to wonder what all of it will mean for TNA in 2024 and beyond. The early answers will be revealed live on FITE this weekend.
KNOCKOUTS CLASH!
The most hotly contested division in all of Impact Wrestling this year has been the Knockouts Division and this Saturday, four of the top competitors in their field will clash, helping to set the stage for 2024.
Reigning and defending Impact Wrestling World Knockouts Champion Trinity will align with powerhouse Jordynne Grace this Saturday, a very unique situation given Grace will be challenging to regain her former title at TNA Hard to Kill in January. While these fierce warriors have shown each other nothing but respect, the same cannot be said for the opposition that will be standing across the ring from them when the bell rings in Toronto, the unholy duo of Gisele Shaw and Deonna Purrazzo.
Purrazzo, one of the most gifted scientific wrestlers in the world, has been at her wits end over the course of 2023, failing to regain her former position at the top of the Knockouts division. Her alliance with the Quintessential Diva, Gisele Shaw, may be quite telling in how far Purrazzo's level of desperation has gone. Shaw herself is a ferocious, evil fighter willing to do whatever ends justify the means in order to score the victory, seeking to prove her dominance.
The real enigma here is whether either team can remain on the same page to achieve the path to victory. Purrazzo and Shaw both want the same thing, but Grace and Trinity are on a path of their own to a championship bout, so what happens if one has a chance to gain an advantage over the other in the heat of battle? Lots of variables will be playing out this Saturday on FITE!
"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other" - Abraham Lincoln
Impact Wrestling's top tag team today are certainly ABC, Chris Bey and Ace Austin, who have meshed their cockiness and pure athletic abilities, concocting the type of tag team magic that is rarely seen in a generation, almost a 21st century version of The Midnight Express. This Saturday, they will put their hard earned Impact Wrestling World Tag Team Championship on the line against Eddie Edwards and Bryan Myers, two excellent veterans who have achieved tag team success in the past, but not with each other.
This new alliance of two of the most cunning competitors in all of Impact has fans debating and wondering what the butterfly effect of their newfound team could be as Impact transitions to the return of TNA Wrestling. While no one would question the sanctity of their success, how they will find equal footing and strategies against ABC, who seemingly share one brain while inside the squared circle, remains to be seen. What is certain is that Edwards, himself a former Impact Wrestling World Champion and Myers, a world-traveled veteran with accolades the size of Manhattan Island, are each dangerous inside the ring and should never, ever be taken for granted as opponents.
DIGITAL MEDIA CHAMPIONSHIP!
The Impact Wrestling Digital Media Champion Tommy Dreamer will also place his prestigious championship on the line, taking on Deaner, one of the most twisted minds in the history of Impact. For Deaner, this opportunity presents itself as a chance to walk into TNA with his first-ever singles championship and to do so at the expense of the beloved Dreamer, a veteran who has fought violently and with pure heart all across the world.
Dreamer has been the heart and soul for every diehard fan who has loved and supported professional wrestling in all its forms, but Deaner would like nothing more than to put a stake through the heart of all involved. Can this bout be yet another sweet victory for Dreamer or will he be plummeted into a true nightmare as Deaner emerges victorious?
"War does not determine who is right - only who is left." - Bertrand Russell
While Champions battle to remain on top of their respective mountains, two former Impact Wrestling World Champions coming to Toronto seek to inflict all out war against the other. Moose and Rhino have gone to battle in the past, including the Bound for Glory Monster's Ball match, but with neither man having decimated the other, they enter Toronto seeking ultimate retribution against the other.
Like two kaiju coming to life, they will brawl and battle across the Don Kolov Arena live on FITE this Saturday, looking to plant their flag of greatness and show the world that they will be the true force to be reckoned with as TNA rises back to supremacy in 2024. While the world celebrates the 70th anniversary of Godzilla next year, the true monster to fear will be the fighter with their hand raised this Saturday at Final Resolution 2023!
THE FUTURE IS NOW
The past was TNA and now, TNA is also the future. After this Saturday, the future is now, no different from the youthful exuberance of the Impact Wrestling roster are not the stars of the futur
e, but the stars of today. With Final Resolution, several special matches showcasing the majesty of these incredible fighters.
This Saturday, The Rascalz's Trey Miguel will battle Speedball Mike Bailey in a clash of two of the most spectacular physical talents competing anywhere today. Bailey is in the midst of one of the most brilliant in-ring series of performances in Impact history, having created a resume of wrestling magnificence and moments that will live forever. However, if Bailey is celebrated as one of the shining lights in professional wrestling, Trey Miguel relishes his place in the darkness, his twisted soul having run roughshod over the Impact roster. This match Saturday in Toronto promises to bring all-out physicality as they push the boundaries and seek to cross the line to walk out of 2023 victorious.
Jake Something's return to Impact Wrestling at Bound for Glory was one of the highlights for fans worldwide. This Saturday, Something brings his powerhouse style to Toronto, battling Jason Hotch of The Good Hands. Hotch is seeking to ruin Something's Impact Wrestling homecoming while also raising his own profile. The Canadian star has been waiting for his moment to pounce and raise hell, but he will have to figure out the riddle of the Sphinx - how to out-wrestle and overpower Something, a near-impossible task. The winner will be poised to conquer the world of TNA in 2024.
Impact Wrestling and FITE reunite one more time to celebrate the greatest of Impact Wrestling this Saturday, live, as the past and present clash as all stand before the precipice of the future….it's time for Final Resolution!
Mike Johnson is the lead reporter for PWInsider.com and has been writing about professional wrestling since 1996. He can be found on Twitter @MikePWInsider and MikeJohnsonWrites.com.
