Tossing Salt Presents:
Impact Wrestling & New Japan Pro Wrestling
Multiverse United: Only The Strong Survive PPV
Thoughts & Predictions
March 29, 2023
DougMaynard.com

Impact Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling will present their combined Multiverse United: Only the Strong Survive PPV tomorrow live on FITE.TV from the sold-out Globe Theater in Los Angeles, CA at 11 PM EST. And you know what that means. It’s prediction time. Let’s do this.

Lio Rush (replacing Josh Alexander) versus KUSHIDA

I’m not a big fan of “Hire Me So I Can Retire” Lio Rush. He has so much talent, but the maturity of a sixteen-year-old boy at Hooters. He has been put in so many strong positions and then that mouth opens and he’s gone. And here he is again in Impact Wrestling’s Edition of the Forbidden Door story. It’s Lio versus KUSHIDA, who is a legit Japanese top guy and a badass as well. I’m sure that within two weeks, Lio will cause problems and cause many headaches for Impact Wrestling management. As for the match, KUSHIDA will take the victory and trip to the pay window.

Winner: KUSHIDA

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Mike Bailey

Tanahashi is a top guy and a very talented wrestler. Bailey gets better every week and is quickly becoming the face of Impact Wrestling. This match could easily go either way and it wouldn’t be a surprise or shock regardless of whoever wins. My gut says Tanahashi will take home the win here. Bailet can afford to take a loss and it won’t hurt him a bit. He’s Impact-flavored Teflon. Tanahashi wins.

Winner: Hiroshi Tanahashi

Masha Slamovich vs. Deonna Purrazzo vs. Gisele Shaw vs. Miyu Yamashita.

All four of these women are strong and talented ladies and this should be a good match. I think this one goes to the hometown crew, the ladies of Impact Wrestling, so it’s either Deonna or Shaw taking the win here. Purrazzo got a big win at the last Impact Wrestling PPV so let’s go with Shaw taking that trip to the pay window for this event.

Winner: Gisele Shaw

IMPACT Tag Team Champions Ace Austin & Chris Bey vs. Aussie Open vs. TMDK vs. Motor City Machine Guns.

The nostalgia and return of the classics continue. All of these teams are top-notch and this will be a match for the ages, but look for the old guys to capture the victory. Look for the MCMG to take that trip to the pay window.

Winners: The Motor City Machine Guns

Moose vs. Jeff Cobb.

Jeff Cobb will be wrestling tonight on AEW Dynamite and then moving on tomorrow night to wrestle Moose at this show. I don’t get Jeff Cobb. I’ve seen him working for ROH and New Japan and while in the original ROH days, he was impressive, but since then, he hasn’t impressed me very much. And Moose? He’s good, but not one of the greatest. He’s solid though. And this match does absolutely nothing for me. I guess Cobb will win. He’s the bigger name. Whatever.

Winner: Jeff Cobb

Impact Wrestling X-Division Champion Trey Miguel vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Rich Swann vs. Kevin Knight vs. Clark Connors vs. Rocky Romero.

Ricky Romero has announced his upcoming retirement so he’s not winning. The rest of the guys have a chance, but I don’t think we’ll be seeing Impact Wrestling rock the boat all that much. Trey Miguel should win here.

Winner: Trey Miguel

New Japan Strong Champion KENTA vs. Minoru Suzuki.

Suzuki is good, but KENTA is a damn good wrestler and will remain and retain that Strong Championship. So I have spoken and so it shall be done.

Winner and still New Japan Strong Champion: KENTA

Fred Rosser & Alex Coughlin & PCO & Sami Callihan vs. Impact Wrestling Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry & Tom Lawlor & JR Kratos & Eddie Edwards.

This is the cluster “get as many people on the card” match that has all of these random names thrown in there just to say that they’re there. I will admit that there are some good names on both sides and this match will probably be one for the ages. Let’s flip a coin. And the B-team wins.

Winners: Joe Hendry, Tom Lawlor, JR Kratos & Eddie Edwards

Kickoff Show: Yuya Uemura vs. Gabriel Kidd.

I don’t know either man so I’ll just go with the gut. One of my favorite people in the world of pro wrestling is a man named Aaron Barfield, aka The Carolina Kidd. I guess Gabriel is a cousin or something so let’s keep it with the family.

Winner: Gabriel Kidd

And there you go. My thoughts and predictions for the low budget version of the Forbidden Door, but by New Japan and Impact Wrestling instead. Damn, there are going to be a lot of pay-per-view predictions this week. Oy vey! So what do you think? Let me know in the comments, along with any other thoughts or questions. And with that, I’m out of here, my friends. I’ll see you later today with much more stuff. Take care.

Ubuntu!