By Jason Powell
Impact Wrestling Hits
EC3 vs. James Storm vs. Magnus to become No. 1 contender to the Impact Championship: It was a really nice touch when the heels performed a double suplex on Storm and then sat up and nodded at one another heading into the commercial break. The nodding indicated that the heels intended to work together, which served as a good hook in terms of fans waiting through the break to see if the babyface would be able to beat the odds. The match featured a nice mix of brawling and well orchestrated three-way spots with good suspense regarding the outcome before EC3 finally got the win.
Scott Steiner, Josh Mathews, Jeremy Borash, and Joseph Park: As much as the bickering broadcast team members is a turnoff on commentary, the angle that led to Steiner’s return to television was really well done. Mathews continues shine as an antagonist, and the petrified reactions of Borash and Park to Steiner’s entrance were perfect. The Park persona is that of a lawyer who had some basic in-ring training, so it’s logical that his character would fear Steiner. This is a classic example of how reading taping spoilers doesn’t always do a segment justice. I rolled my eyes at the idea of 54 year-old Steiner returning to television, but this played out really well and he is slotted perfectly as the unpredictable badass who had both non-wrestling personas running for their lives in fear.
Eddie Edwards and Alisha Edwards vs. Davey Richards and Angelina Love: The men handled the majority of the work and did their usual good job. However, Alisha and Love did a nice job of holding up the intensity of the feud with their limited work late in the match. The babyface couple going over followed by the heels more than getting their heat back with the post match angle was well done. Love putting Alisha through a table while a handcuffed Eddie was forced to watch was a nice touch.
KM and Kongo Kong vs. Braxton Sutter and Mahabali Shera: A minor Hit for a match that protected the Kong character by having him remain dominant and a good post match angle. Shera is still not ready for prime time, but Sutter did the bulk of the work for his team. The post match angle with Rosemary saving Allie from Sienna and Laurel Van Ness was surprising. I’d prefer to see Rosemary work as a heel, but she was well received by the crowd and we’ll let the angle play out to see where this is going.
Impact Wrestling Misses
Impact Wrestling and GFW explanation: D’Angelo Dinero stressed that holding the GFW Championship puts the holder in contendership for the Impact Wrestling Championship, but it is not a golden ticket. At least we know that the Impact Championship is viewed as the bigger title, but then it begs the question of what purpose the GFW Title actually serves. I can’t wait until Slammiversary when this mess will supposedly be resolved and they get back to a more realistic title belt count.
Global Force Tag Title Tournament: The tournament gave us last week’s good LAX vs. Laredo Kid and Garza Jr. match, and this week’s Veterans of War vs. Fallah Bahh and Mario Bokara was solid. The real issue is that it feels so random and is difficult to follow without the tournament graphics being displayed.
great analysis