A solid card made Impact Wrestling watchable this week, even if the drama was somewhat predictable. At this point, nothing but a large-scale brawl between TNA and the Aces and Eights could save things, but the company continues to tease a revolution, rather than ignite it. At the same time, there are plenty of performers working hard in the ring. Check out our weekly power rankings to see who they are
5: Gail Kim: The reign of destruction of the sexy and sultry Kim continues. Even with the loss, Kim made sure that Knockouts champion Velvet Sky paid the price. Administering a vicious Figure Four while using the corner turnbuckle for leverage, Kim is easily the best female heel in the sport today.
4: Jay Bradley: The youngster is all about “winning ugly†and this week he didn’t disappoint. Although he lacks polish and precision in the ring, he was able to take down Christian York with a big time Lariat he calls “The Boomstick.†Wait- an “Evil Dead†reference on a pro wrestling show? Bradley definitely has a winning formula; the only question is can he develop into a viable superstar?
3: AJ Styles: Although TNA has dragged out his return and made his character stale, the thought of an Styles/Kurt Angle encounter is way too cool to ignore. If Styles does join the Aces and Eights, the club will get a big time boost. In desperate need of something big, both TNA and Styles would benefit enormously from an effective heel turn.
2: Kenny King: Defeating Chris Sabin and Petey Williams this week on Impact, King continues to thrive. It doesn’t matter if he lacks the experience and flash of his opponents; the guy can’t be beat right now. Easily the best match on Impact this week, could King one day be similar to Austin Aries and move out of the X-Division and become a legitimate singles star?
1: Joseph Park: A quick win over D’Lo Brown earns Park a title shot against TV champion Devon. This angle with Abyss/Park and The Aces and Aces is a disaster, but here’s to hoping that a permanent Abyss return could make things better.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
A solid card made Impact Wrestling watchable this week, even if the drama was somewhat predictable. At this point, nothing but a large-scale brawl between TNA and the Aces and Eights could save things, but the company continues to tease a revolution, rather than ignite it. At the same time, there are plenty of performers working hard in the ring. Check out our weekly power rankings to see who they are
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